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Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Spectacular light show in Gasparillo

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1356 days ago
20211203
PHOTO BY KRISTIAN DE SILVA

PHOTO BY KRISTIAN DE SILVA

RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA 

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt 

De­spite the threat of COVID, there is a spec­tac­u­lar light show on dis­play at Ben Lomond, Gas­par­il­lo that is draw­ing dozens of par­ents and chil­dren to line the streets. 

Every night spec­ta­tors stand so­cial­ly dis­tanced at Mar­cus Street in front of a house owned by Fer­ose Ali. 

At 7 pm, the house bursts in­to life, in scenes rem­i­nis­cent of Dis­ney as the mu­si­cal light show be­gins. Light­ed Christ­mas trees set up near the win­dows give the il­lu­sion of singing, while peo­ple be­come mes­mer­ized. The house floods with a burst of colours. 

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia, Ali said he want­ed to bring joy to peo­ple at a time when the gloom of COVID -19 had thrown many in­to de­spair and de­pres­sion. He said his house has been dec­o­rat­ed with over 500,000 lights. It took him two months to or­ga­nize the show, not­ing that on De­cem­ber 19, he planned to do a Dis­ney themed light show show­cas­ing all of Dis­ney’s favourite songs. 

The show will al­ways be free and Ali said it’s a labour of love that he has been do­ing for the past 25 years.  

“We are here to cel­e­brate the birth of Je­sus Christ. This year we de­cid­ed to do a mu­si­cal light show. When you come here you can tune your ra­dio to 88.1 FM and you will hear the mu­sic from your car,” he said. 

This year be­cause of COVID, ad­di­tion­al pre­cau­tions have been tak­en. 

“You can walk to the gate and see the Christ­mas Vil­lage. Due to COVID, we are keep­ing the gates closed. Keep your mask on and gath­er in a few num­bers. Be cau­tious be­cause of COVID,” he warned. 

Ali said they chose to do the light show be­cause they want­ed to spread hope.  

“We have been do­ing this for 25 years. There are sen­ti­men­tal pieces here. Every year we have this show on for the view­ing pub­lic. You can come for a won­der­ful evening. We see the joy in chil­dren’s and adults face,” Ali said. 

He said about 500,000 lights have been used but on De­cem­ber 19, he planned to show­case a Dis­ney-themed light show so even more lights will be added. 

Ali said it was im­por­tant to send a mes­sage of hope.  

“In this time of tri­als, we must have hope. We trust in med­i­cine, yes but it is im­por­tant to bring joy to peo­ple’s lives. There is a fam­i­ly who comes here every night and they sit down with­out and en­joy watch­ing these lights,” he said.  

Among the spec­ta­tors were Alex Jones and his daugh­ter Ariya.  

“This is amaz­ing. This year, they have added new fea­tures to the house and it is won­der­ful. I rec­om­mend that peo­ple come down and en­joy the show,” Jones said.  

Spectacular light show


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