December is flying by and before you know it, Christmas will be here. If you’re looking for one surefire way to get into a jolly mood in preparation for the holiday, try visiting some dazzling light displays! There's something enchanting about the combination of chilled air and glowing lights that will make even the crabbiest grinch smile. In fact, we’re going to take a look at one display that has been a New Mexico tradition for more than four decades.
This is the Bugg Light Festival, an annual light display now in its 47th year. The display features more than 300,000 lights and vintage Christmas decorations, as well as 100 Christmas trees.
The display is housed at the Belen Harvey House Museum, which was once a restaurant owned by Fred Harvey in the early 20th century. These days it serves as a museum dedicated to New Mexican history, which includes the Bugg Lights.
The Bugg Lights were an Albuquerque tradition for decades, originally installed in the front yard of Norman and Joyce Bugg in 1970. Since then, it moved to the Menaul School before finding a permanent home in Belen.
The museum restored the vintage decorations, refinishing and repainting back to vivid colors and adding even more twinkling lights to add their own touch to this piece of history.
The display includes some rather charming winter scenes, like this dreamy vignette of an (Ant)arctic play land.
Some scenes are a bit more quirky but still cute and reminiscent of life in the Southwest.
Also on site are all the lovely Christmas trees, each of the 100 trees is uniquely decorated with baubles and twinkling lights. Talk about a winter wonderland!
The Bugg Light Festival is hosted at the Belen Harvey House Museum, located at 104 North 1st Street in Belen. It is open daily between 5pm and 9pm from now through December 30, 2017. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. You can find more details on the Harvey House Museum’s Facebook page.
Looking for more opportunities to see dazzling light displays this holiday season? You won’t want to miss visiting River of Lights at the Albuquerque BioPark, New Mexico’s largest walk-through light show! Read more about the captivating attraction in The Winter Walk In New Mexico That Will Positively Enchant You.
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