It’s worth the drive to Novar, they said. They were right.
When Doppler readers told us that a house just over the railway tracks in Novar was a must-see for the holidays, we had to take a look. We weren’t the only ones. When we arrived, several cars were already stopped along the side of the road to watch the show of lights—46,000 of them—which is timed to a variety of Christmas tunes.
It wasn’t long before homeowner Greg Smith appeared with a basket adorned with green lights, offering the candy canes within to everyone who stopped for a look.
He and his wife Pam do it to spread some Christmas cheer, he says. They’ve been decorating their home for the holidays for about 15 years, but it wasn’t until about seven years ago that they stepped it up. A lot.
It takes a long time to pull the decorating together. The Smiths get it started themselves and then they have a day in November when about 30 friends from their church—the Allsaw Pentecostal Church near Minden—show up for a blitz to do the final set up.
“People love it,” says Greg, who some will recognize as the Portage Flyer’s chief engineer at Muskoka Heritage Place. “We get busloads. Muskoka Landing had two busloads this year, Chartwell had a bus, Fairvern usually brings a bus up. Last year we had somebody who proposed here. We get a lot of people.”
That’s no surprise. Each of about a dozen songs provides a different show, controlled by a computer program. A combination of LED, RGB Pixel, and standard incandescent lights provide a variety of effects including a towering animated Christmas tree that displays both images and text. There’s music playing quietly outside, and thanks to a low-power FM transmitter you can also sit in your car and tune in to the music.
At this home in Novar, you can tune in to 90.3 FM to listen to the Christmas music timed to the light show
Get a sneak peek of the show in the video below, or head to Boundary Road in Novar to see it live.
It seems Novar has an abundance of Christmas spirit. Earlier this month we told you about the large Christmas village set up in Hope’s Foodland, which is just down the street from the Smith’s home. Read that story here.
There are some beautifully decorated homes in Huntsville, too, like the ones below:
Irene Street
Cliff Avenue
Parkside Drive
Princess Street
Muskoka Road 3 North
Thanks to the efforts of homeowners like these, and others, Christmas is a little bit brighter for passersby.
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Quietly ???? I can hear the music playing IN MY HOUSE! Not to mention the idiot drivers and traffic this brings is beyond annoying. Not everyone loves this. It’s way over the top.
To you as well!
Great! Thanks, Dawn, and Merry Christmas!
Yes. 🙂 The display will be up until about Jan. 5.
Anyone know if they’re doing it this year?
Merry Christmas to the Smith family!!
Yes. We will run the lights until after New Year’s Day
Can you please tell me if the lights will be on after Christmas?
I love this house go see it every year and on Christmas eve they light santas run way with candles it is magical I just love it
Hi there. I woke up this morning with your article about the Christmas lights in Novar on my fb page. There is an amazing reason for this. I was the person who was proposed to there last year ?. It is my favourite thing to do during the Christmas season here in Muskoka. My family and I are there all the time. My now husband, decided to “pop the question” right there under the archway at the end of the candy cane walk way. It was absolutely amazing and to top it all off, our 3 boys got to be a part of the proposal. I recomend “the lights” in Novar to everyone. It really is a magical place.