Light Up the Coast – Show Us Your Christmas Lights! From Westport to Elk, We’re Posting Them All
We’re inviting readers to send in photos for our Mendocino Coast Christmas Lights Road Trip. Help us showcase the glow from Elk to Westport and every stop in between. The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens continues to draw visitors from across the county and the Bay Area to its annual Festival of Lights, with its final weekend of Friday–Saturday–Sunday displays coming up before Christmas. But the coast is shining far beyond the gardens — and we want to feature it all.
Confession time: we’ve never made it to the Festival of Lights — Frank’s been working those nights for five years running, and we pretty much travel as a four‑paw family. Dogs aren’t allowed inside (fair enough), so we’ve admired it from afar. If you’re going this weekend, be our eyes! Send a few photos to frankhartzell@gmail.com and let us share the magic.
We just got our first new submission and it’s a beauty!!!
The rest of the photos are from coastal businesses and homes, and we’ll keep updating the story as new ones roll in. Take your own lights cruise this weekend or next week — perfect timing as the days start inching longer once more.
Joe Wagner’s nomination of Scott West’s home at the end of Pudding Creek wins Christmas pretty much every year. Scott has a full drive‑through setup — an entrance, an exit, and even three back‑in parking spots for drive‑up Christmas movies. You really should tour the end of Pudding Creek after dark. Scott’s retired from the Fort Bragg and Oakland Fire Departments, and Christmas is his hobby.
And we were delighted to wake up Friday morning and have a collection of photos from Festival of Lights attendees KNYO’s Bob Young and Jeff Zolitor with photos by Rebecca Kress. We were disappointed Bob didn’t sit on Santa’s lap.
And now we head north with Rob Sommerton’s photos of Westport in lights. Rob’s a longtime friend of MendocinoCoast.news, and his photos never miss. Big thanks, Rob. Aren’t the reader submitted photos great?
The best street in Fort Bragg for Christmas lights is Wall Street. We went out to film it, but the camera didn’t save the video — pretty sure the memory was full — so we’ll have to head back. It’s absolutely worth the trip. There are eight very cool houses, including one that’s second only to Scott’s place on Pudding Creek.
Grace tells us the Jackie and Denis Bazor home on Wall Street is a double‑feature: an incredible indoor Christmas village and a nutcracker collection that started when their daughter Aurora fell in love with them as a little girl. Over on Pudding Creek, Robert and Veronica Bazor carry on the family tradition. Many of the vintage wooden display pieces at both homes were handmade by Jackie’s mom, Alberta Wooden. And don’t skip the house next door — it’s got a drive‑thru scene and a Christmas movie playing for the full holiday experience. I went by and talked to Jackie and Denis, I used to work with the glam and smart Jackie. She told me they start working on it right after Halloween. Denis estimated there were at least 100 houses in the display. The come from all over, Jackie said many were purchased at Paul Bunyan Thrift Shop.
If you need more proof that Christmas decorations wake up after dark, just look at the display at Geo Aggregates.
We’re hoping a more talented photographer than the two of us can snag great shots of the town’s most famous display at the Gardens.
Our next stop was the Renzi patriotic house that rolls out flags for Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day and just about every red‑white‑and‑blue moment. It’s a local favorite. They’ve lit up for Christmas as well, joined by their Green Acres neighbors. If someone can snag a better picture, we’d love it — the rain was coming down sideways when we tried.
