Lights and sights around Sarasota

Decorations and displays abound in neighborhoods across the city.

By Eric Garwood
| 5:00 a.m. December 15, 2022

Sarasota
Neighbors

As fashion trends go, so go seasonal decorations around Sarasota.

Hemlines up, hemlines down.

"Star Wars" characters up, "Star Wars" characters down.

In years past, we’ve seen LEDs replace mini lights, which replaced old-school screw-in bulbs, which probably replaced Dickensian-era candles at some point.

When Britney Spears was still it, colorful strands of icicle lights dangled from eaves and gutters, and sequential blinkies lit the way along driveways and sidewalks.

There have been light-up plastic cartoon characters, penguins (don’t they live at the South Pole?) snow globes the size of Charles Barkley, and those laser thingamajigs that project dancing stars into the tree tops and – as it turns out – the eyes of low-flying airline pilots.

All available on QVC when Amazon was still just a rain forest.

And now? After a casual drive through neighborhoods around Sarasota, the 2022 trend is clear.

We mean that literally.

Clear lights are in vogue, casting a simple, warm white light whereever they are draped.

By no means do we suggest this is a comprehensive look at the state of decorating in Sarasota, but here are a few examples of what’s chewing up some kilowatt hours around town this year.

A bit of whimsy combines with white-light restraint at the entrance gate to a property in the 4400 block of Bayshore Road in the Indian Beach area.

A passer-by could easily read by the light from the decorations on Habana Drive. Front one end of the corner lot to the other, white lights glisten.

White lights along the streets of Harbor Acres adorn the decades old oak trees gracing some of Sarasota's most stately homes.

Illuminated trees and wreaths form the basis of a home's decoration motif in the 1200 block of Hillview Drive in Harbor Acres.

Inflatable cartoon characters, such as Yukon Cornelius from the classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and others form the centerpiece of a display in Kensington Park.

Softly playing holiday music enhanced the experience of this home on Forester Palm Avenue decorated with a variety of colors and blinking lights.

This display in the 3400 block of Shade Brook Lane in North Sarasota danced with the beat of holiday tunes playing softly for passers-by to enjoy

In the 4600 block of Del Sol Drive, characters interact with lights of all colors fo form an attractive display.

A snowman stands watch over a simple but colorful display in the 2600 block of Ringling Boulevard. Santa also greets visitors to the front door.

A happy-go-lucky snowman off Ringling Boulevard.

Not to be outdone by the new tree in St. Armands Circle, the tree in Five Points Park stands in quiet dignity. Similarly illuminated trees surround the park.

An inflatable St. Bernard joined other decorations in front of a home near Hyde Park Street.

author

Eric Garwood

Eric Garwood is the digital news editor of Your Observer. Since graduating from University of South Florida in 1984, he's been a reporter and editor at newspapers in Florida and North Carolina.