Town ‘made famous’ by its festive lights

AFife town that melted hearts across the world with its “wonky” Christmas lights has added another two to its collection.

Newburgh’s display took the internet by storm last year after pictures were shared more than 153,000 times on Twitter.

The lights bring children’s drawings to life and include a Christmas turkey, a three-legged reindeer and a gingerbread man.

And this year, locals have added a dinosaur with a star on its head and a rainbow wearing a Santa hat.

They were unveiled during a switch-on event on Saturday, adding some festive cheer to the dark autumn nights.

The green dinosaur, wrapped in colourful lights, was designed by Newburgh Primary pupil Arlo Nicol, who was in P1 at the time.

And P6 pupil Lois Murray came up with the rainbow design in honour of key workers’ efforts during the Covid pandemic.

The pair won an annual competition organised by Newburgh Action Group.

Chairwoman Shona Gray said: “We’ve been doing it for about 20 years.

“We get the kids to design a light and each year we take one of the old lights away and replace it with the winning one.

“We’ve now got about 20 children’s lights and everybody has their favourite.”

The drawings are then

brought to life by Ladybank lighting specialists Blachere Illuminations.

Some of the other designs over the years depict a penguin, a polar bear and a Christmas tree.

“My favourite is a bear with a Christmas hat on,” said Shona.

It is based on the Newburgh Bear, a stone

that was originally set into the Abbott’s residence at Lindores Abbey.

“We normally just have one winner each year,” said Shona.

“But we couldn’t do it last year because of Covid so we’ve unveiled the 2020 light and the 2021 light together.

“And all the kids like to come and stand beside

their own light for the switch-on.”

The idea became famous after last year’s Twitter storm and one user described them as “delightfully wonky”.

Shona has since had requests for advice from across the UK.

“Newburgh Christmas lights are famous now,” she said.

WINNER: Six-year-old Arlo Nicol designed a green dinosaur wearing a Christmas star.

CHEER: Clockwise from top left, winning designs for this year’s Newburgh Christmas light competition, locals gather before the switchon, Santa making his way through the town and the winning designs by Arlo Nicol and Lois Murray. Pictures by Kenny Smith.