St. Augustine homes use hundreds of blow-up characters as Christmas decorations
When you think of Christmas, lights and wreaths may come to mind. But in one local neighborhood, there’s something else you’ll find.
If you drive to southern St. Augustine, there’s a street where the homes get a blow up instead of a glow-up come Christmas time. Instead of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, you’ll find Woody, Clark Griswold, Ralphie and Minions.
“It’s amazing just seeing everybody’s face in shock and kids screaming at their favorite character,” says Nicole Benchoff and Mary DiGregorio, who live across from each other in the Fort Peyton Forest neighborhood.
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The two women and their families each put up more than 130 blow-up Christmas characters in their yards during the holiday season, but they don’t compete.
“Well, we started because of them,” Benchoff says, “[DiGregorio’s] husband started this 29, 30 years ago or more.”
The decades-long tradition started after DiGregorio’s husband bought some inflatable Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. But it became a lot more when the family saw the joy the decorations brought to the neighborhood. Especially since DiGregorio, a first-grade teacher at Southwoods Elementary, usually gets visits from current and former students wanting to get a look at the family’s holiday setup.
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“It just became a really fun neighborhood thing to do and it’s a time of year where everybody’s busy so we actually get to sit and see each other,” DiGregorio says.
Seeing the families’ yards filled with all the blow-ups they could find, I asked them both a question they get from others all the time.
“I’m sure you get this often, but what’s your power bill like?” I asked Benchoff and DiGregorio.
“It really doesn’t do anything,” Benchoff told me.
“It goes up a little, but nothing crazy,” DiGregorio added, “nothing to make it not worth the smiles.”
Every penny powering the blow-ups and lights, they told me, is worth the cost of keeping Christmas bright.
“Bringing joy to other people, too. That’s the big thing,” DiGregorio says.
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The families tell me the Christmas decorations will come down the night of December 26th, and the best time to see them is after 5:30 PM. They’re always happy with people coming to check out the decorations, and can be found at the end of Fort Peyton Circle in St. Augustine.
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