Ferndale is hosting its first-ever Christmas home decoration contest
The city of Ferndale is hosting its first home Christmas decorating contest called “Lightdale.”
Ferndale residents are encouraged to decorate their homes as wonderfully as possible, and enter into a free contest to be judged by their community as the best decorated house in the city limits.
It’s not just lights that are being judged, but the entire house decorations, with nothing off limits so long as it remains on the property and is family friendly, according to Megan Juenemann, communications and community relations officer with the city.
“People can make it as interactive as they want, homeowners can even make themselves a part of the display if they want,” Juenemann told The Herald. “The sky is the limit.”
The contest is based on the annual Ferndale Frightdale event, in which houses within city limits are judged on their halloween decorations. Juenemann said a lot of people liked the event and wanted to repurpose the idea for Christmas decorations.
“I am super excited about this. Christmas lights, no matter what you celebrate, seeing the decorations and lights, they bring a little bit of glimmer and that is something I think we all need right now just in general. No matter where you are in life, we could all use a little glimmer,” Juenemann said.
People looking to participate in the Lightdale event need to register with the city through the Ferndale website. After they register, they will be given a Lightdale yard sign to show their participation in the event. The registration deadline is Friday, Dec. 12, and yard signs will be delivered the week of Dec. 15.
The homes and their addresses will be added to a publicly available map, so anyone can visit all the most decorated homes in Ferndale, Juenemann said.
“I love driving through my neighborhood and seeing the displays, and I do nightly walks with my kids, so now it has become this activity that we do of, ‘where can we go find the best Christmas lights?’” Jueneman said.
People looking to vote on the best decorated homes can do so through the same website starting Dec. 19, through Jan. 1.
The top three homes will win gift cards to local businesses. One randomly selected voter will receive a gift card to a local business, Juenemann said.
“I’m excited to be able to provide opportunities that don’t have a lot of constraints for our residents,” she said. “Hopefully this allows some connection and some bonding between family, friends and neighbors… I think it’s just a creative, low stakes way to get the community involved and that makes me really excited.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 1:35 PM.
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