I apologize for not getting this post out last Friday like I mentioned.  Unfortunately though, I didn’t have enough submissions to make it worth doing the post.  Now that I’ve received a few more submissions, it’s time to write the post.

I have to admit to being a little disappointed that there weren’t more submissions.  Maybe when the readership is higher next Christmas, we’ll have more submissions.

Regardless, here are the displays, in no particular order.  While I don’t have specific addresses (except in one case), I’ve included the closest intersection.

203 St. & 123rd Ave.

Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of this one.  But without a doubt, this is one of the longest running light displays in Maple Ridge that I know of, running back to at least the late 1990s.  The display doesn’t appear (in my opinion) to change a whole lot from year to year (and if it does, I’m sure I’ll hear about it), but it’s still a great display.  The first major light display that I can remember coming across in Maple Ridge.

21456 122nd Ave.

This was a submission from the owners, Bob & Gail Watson, and I’ll include the information on the display from their email:  It’s that time of year and once again Bob & Gail Watson have turned on the Christmas lights.

Santa and his dancing penguins are next to the north pole.   Rudolph and the gang are there too.  The ferris wheel, igloo, a chevo-sleigh, and do not forget the nativity scene.  This is all highlighted with flashing stars, snow flakes and Christmas ornaments dancing in the air.

Donations gratefully accepted for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. 

I haven’t been able to visit this house yet, but we should be going on a light tour this evening after we watch the CP Rail Holiday Train run through Maple Ridge on its way to Port Moody. 

Cypress Place & Somerset Dr., Pitt Meadows

This was one that we discovered on one of our “light hunting” drives.  The kind where you just drive around slowly looking for the glow of lights that’s just a little brighter than expected coming out of side streets.  This is one that we’ve seen in the past, but I had completely forgotten about until we came across it the other night.

It looked absolutely great with all the snow that we had last week.  Thankfully I was able to get a couple of pictures, one of which is included to the right.  One of the good things about this display is that it’s off the main roads a little bit, so if you wanted to take the family, you don’t necessarily have to worry as much about little ones and traffic.

This is another long-running display that you should try to visit each and every year.  It’s worth the drive, without question.

216th Ave. & 122nd St.

This is the one that you may have already seen on the local CTV news.  Over 40,000 lights were put into this display, and from what I can tell, they all appear to be LED lights, as well.  Remember when you were a kid looking at huge light displays and your parents always used to wonder about how much the hydro bill would be to run that thing for a month?

Not an issue here. 

This is one that my wife had found, and she took me out one night, saying that this house had a “pretty cool display” that I might want to see.  Boy was she right.  The photo that I was able to get really doesn’t do this display justice.  The whole thing just seems to spread out forever, encompassing the whole yard, including the hedges, fence and mailbox.

Displays that we were informed of but haven’t had a chance to check yet, include:

• 228 Ave. & 128 St.
• 232 Ave. north of Dewdney Trunk Road

Thank you so much to Sue Van Balkom for those listings.

So there you have it.  The light display submissions that we received this year.  Unfortunately we haven’t had a chance to visit them all yet, but should be taking care of that this evening.  When I get photos of some of the others, I’ll include them as well.

Now we want to hear from you.  What do you think is the best light display in Maple Ridge?  One of the ones listed above, or one that we didn’t cover?  Let us know in the comments, and on December 24th, I’ll announce the most popular display of 2009.

Andrew Douglas (ad@ridgemeadowspost.com)