Lawley Street Lights ready to bring a bit of festive cheer

After 27 years, it is difficult to find a Pretorian that does not know about the much-awaited Lawley Street Lights that go up every year in the usually sleepy Waterkloof neighbourhood.

In 1995, Lawley Street residents between Long and Sidney streets decided to bring some festive cheer to their sleepy street. This has grown into the now famous annual Lawley Street Lights in December between 19:00 to 23:00 every evening.

The idea came from Lawley Street resident Isobel (Belle) Hurly, who lived in the house on the corner of Sidney and Lawley streets.

She had visited her daughter in the USA and saw how much pleasure people found in decorating their houses with lights over Christmas.

With no official committee, the Lawley Street lights are spontaneous and organised by each property. One of the founding residents, Paul Harding who hosted the first meeting about the lights, said that people come from as far as Rustenburg to see the lights.

For the first few years, just a couple of houses took part. But in 1999, when the world celebrated the new millennium, the lights really took off. “We thought maybe one or two houses would join, but about 75% of the street started taking part. It became a competition, something spectacular with over 700 cars per hour in the peak times.”

Initially only white lights were allowed but when the display expanded at the turn of the millennium, the rules fell away for the spectacular show we can see today.

The Lawley Street lights are a fun project and residents tried from early on to keep it away from those who would detract it from the open-to-all vision.

This is why they have never charged admission to see the lights. The residents also want to respect the diversity of cultures and beliefs in the area.

Harding told Rekord that he hoped visitors would also respect the area too as they come to enjoy the annual event.

While they resisted tying the event to any organisation, residents have worked with the Salvation Army in the past, and ask visitors to direct any donations towards them.

They are also welcoming of buskers and carolers, who often show up for surprise performances, but again ask visitors to respect that the light show is still outside their homes, and the homeowners spend hundreds of thousands of Rand every year to make it all happen.

Of course, Christmas would not be Christmas without a visit from Santa.

From the very first Christmas in 1995, Santa arrived on the back of a fire engine and dutifully distributed presents to the Lawley Street and needy children.

It became tradition for Santa to arrive by some novel means of transport. Once Santa even rode on his bicycle ringing his red bell. Another time, Santa arrived on his quad bike. Then one year a diplomat resident offered to transport Santa in his red Ferrari and treated Santa to a trip around Pretoria before returning to Lawley Street.

Harding told Rekord that Santa had the time of his life!

The Santa tradition became increasingly difficult because the street had to be temporarily closed while Santa delivered his presents. This concerned the hordes of motorists who had now decided that Christmas Eve was definitely a night out in Lawley Street.

“The beauty of and perhaps the reason behind the success of this event is that there has never been an official committee and no bureaucracy, just a few caring neighbours giving a selfless service to the community,” said Harding.

He said that there are a couple of secret events that happen spontaneously down the street. Every year events such as a cycling ride through, road runners walk, a Vespa run and a Porsche ride happen without warning, treating visitors to an extra special experience.

The embassies in the area also add their festive spirit into the mix, with chocolates from the Swiss embassy and special guests from the Singapore embassy make appearances or visit.

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