'Christmas card to the community’: Winter Haven family transforms home into holiday spectacle
WINTER HAVEN - Cars slow down to a crawl as they drive by the Bigda’s house on Shadow Wood Trail in Winter Haven as children, and those still young-at-heart, roll down their windows to get a better look at the flashing lights.
Bill Bigda, 62, can recall how as a child he begged his parents to drive past a favorite Christmas lights display each night. Now, he and his 38-year-old son, Tony, make it an annual goal to create a scene of wonder for others and raise funds for charity.
Santa’s House by the Bigda’s is a synchronized holiday display that features more than 100,000 lights with dozens of popular Disney and childhood characters. Many of the displays come alive with movement, like Pokemon riding a carousel swing and classics like Donald Duck and his family pedal a bike for four.
“It’s like our Christmas card to the entire community,” said Tony Bigda, the owner of the home.
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The family tradition started 38 years ago in Ludlow, a small town in Western Massachusetts. Bill Bigda began hanging Christmas lights for his son’s first Christmas and it quickly grew.
Bill Bigda said he saw what holiday decorations were being sold and quickly decided it would be more interesting if they moved – and could do it. His first homemade moving lawn figure was Snoopy from the comic strip Peanuts, ice skating while he lazily spins in circles. The piece is still prominently on display.
For the father-son duo it’s turned into a hobby of finding interesting scrap or recycled parts on the side of the road and refashioning them into Christmas decorations. All the popular characters are hand-drawn on plywood by Tony Bigda, and then the family members including his wife, Taryne, and 9-year-old son, Logan, pitch in to help paint them.
It’s not a show without the music. All the lights are choregraphed to six different soundtracks created by Tony Bigda, who makes sure they have a little bit of something for everyone. It takes at least 500 hours to set up , Tony Bigda estimated, as he incorporates custom instructions on visitor parking and information on the display.
Each year, the family begins to start putting up the lights on Oct. 1. As the LEDs can be any color, they often set them to orange, purple and black for Halloween. In November, the real setup begins with a race to finish it by the first Saturday of December.
“By the end of setup, we’re usually wondering if we got in too deep,” Tony Bigda said.
In 2020, the house was selected to be featured in ABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight in 2020. It wound up being the one year the Christmas lights almost never got hung. Bill Bigda said he had a medical issue that landed him in the hospital, and the family faced the tough decision of whether to go forward with decorating or skip a year.
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The Bigda’s pulled through and wound up winning first place.
"We never expected it,” Bill Bigda said.
His wife, Diane, added, “it was surreal.”
For those who have visited the Bigda’s house before, the family is continuously adding something new to the display. This year, there’s a blue train engine where children can ring a bell and take a selfie, according to Bill Bigda.
It’s become a popular spot, judging by the foot traffic one Thursday, and can only be accessed using the neighbors’ driveway.
Neighbor Kim Westphal said she isn’t bothered - the area’s extensive holiday light displays and décor is part of what attracted her to the area when she bought her home five years ago. So her husband, Dave, approached the Bigda’s last year about taking over their yard.
“[Dave] told them to take as much as you want of the yard,” Westphal said, with a laugh.
So starting Nov. 1, the Bigdas began staking lights and figures on their neighbor’s lawn. That space features a new custom figure that pays local homage to the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team.
“You can’t do this without having great neighbors,” Diane Bigda said.
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Visitors to the Bigda’s house are asked to consider giving a small donation to be delivered to a charitable group. This year, the family’s selected Polk Sheriff’s Charities, Inc, a nonprofit organization that provides monetary support for Polk residents dealing with traumatic events.
“Whether it’s a kid next door or someone down the street, the money stays here and helps kids in Polk County,” Bill Bigda said.
Last year, the family raised approximately $3,600, according to Tony Bigda, and they hope to beat that figure this year.
Santa’s House by the Bigda’s can be found at 4314 Shadow Wood Trail in Winter Haven. The display runs Sunday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Those driving by can tune in to 87.9 FM to hear the music.
The nightly light show can be viewed through Dec. 31.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. Follow on Twitter @SaraWalshFl.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Winter Haven Christmas display boasts more than 100,000 lights
