It's the 12th year they've visited from the Cincinnati area to see the street full of the elaborately decorated, brightly colored Yuletide light show that probably resembles what Santa's runway at the North Pole looks like.
"It's one of the highlights of the Christmas season," Nagley said.
But isn't there anything like this in Cincinnati?
"It's too cold," his daughter Laura said.
Even with a steady rain falling, cars lined up all through the North Forest Beach neighborhood Tuesday night to take their turn going through the tunnel of lights, sounds and holiday cheer that Dove Street has evolved into.
Kids stood up out of sunroofs to snap pictures of the bubble blizzard -- "beach snow" to the locals -- and the lucky ones got candy canes from volunteers on the street.
The street festival started 17 years ago when Rob Lolik lit a 40-foot magnolia tree in his yard to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Neighbor Paul Beckler joined in the decorations and the tradition was born. It's grown into a huge fundraiser for the Deep Well Project, which collected $8,000 as of Christmas Eve, volunteer Julie Jilly said.
The site has become the concentrated expression of Hilton Head's holiday spirit, but a lot more happens between these few houses than just a pretty light show.
LOVE ON DOVE
Kristi Beckler was crouched in a bush stringing some lights near her driveway early this month when she noticed a couple walking down the street. Suddenly the man dropped to one knee and asked the woman to marry him. She said yes, and they started crying, but Beckler was stuck in the bush and had to make a decision. Should she reveal herself and say congratulations or let the private moment play out?
"They plan these engagements, so this wild thing coming out of the bushes covered with lights probably wasn't appropriate," she said. She managed to get herself in a sitting position. It took 10 minutes for all the couple to move on.
"I just had to sit there and be really quiet," she said.
CLAUS IS THE CAUSE
Sometimes Santa comes to Dove Street, and the Becklers' daughter Jenny Burley was sitting next to St. Nick waving to folks a few days ago. A family drove by and their kids got excited.
Their 4-year-old, Ashley, was pumped, but not as much as their 18-year-old Zack.
Zack is disabled and has trouble walking and speaking, but had been saying nothing but "Ho Ho Ho," all day long, Burley said. They parked the car and helped Zack walk over to Santa for a picture. Zack was clapping and clearly full of joy, she said.
"Santa was just totally touched," she said. "(Zack) was clapping and really just was elated. I needed a minute."
AWAY IN A DOVE STREET
Dove Street isn't quite bright enough to see from space, but it is getting a global reputation. People from all over the world make the street a stop on their visits to the area, and Christmas night saw visitors from Italy, Argentina and Seattle.
"My mother-in-law said 'What do you want to do?' I said 'I want to go to that neighborhood where we saw all the lights,'<2009>" said Jane Goldberg of Seattle, in town visiting her husband Josh's family. Their son Sawyer was in a stroller taking his first tour of the street on his first Christmas.
"Especially the bubbles," she said, bending down to smile at Sawyer, "because he loves the bubbles."
NEIGHBORHOOD PACT?
People always ask the organizers: When you move here, do you have to sign some sort of blood pact or something saying you'll decorate?
It's actually kind of the opposite, Paul Beckler said.
People have told him they moved to the street just to show off their decorating skills. In fact, new homes being built around the neighborhood are being pre-wired for Christmas lights by putting electrical outlets along the roofline and hookups for candles in the windows, he said.
And if you can't afford the lights, try what his granddaughters did a few nights ago. They were dr up in princess outfits with wands and stood on the lawn making robotic movements to see if anyone realized they were real.
It was pretty effective. Beckler had to tell people Wal-Mart was all sold out of those new decorations if people asked about them.
"It just makes people think of new and different ways to be artistic and creative, no matter what the age is," he said. "It all happens on Dove Street."
The light festival will continue through Jan. 4.
rss
mobile



