Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Light Contest

Cash prizes and the Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Award for the best holiday light displays.

A Christmas Light contest in memory of Carl Bear has been organized in Harrison to promote the spirit of Christmas.

According to a Facebook Post on the City of Harrison’s Facebook Page the contest will present 5 homes with a prize of $100 and the top house will also receive the Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Award.

Steve Benton is the organizer of the contest and said that Carl and Beverly Bear always had a large Christmas Light display at their house on Baughman Cutoff Road every year. Around this time last year Carl found out his cancer had returned and sadly passed away in January of 2021.

Benton along with Donnie Baily and a few others have been a part of what he calls a “Christmas light community,” where people with particularly extravagant Christmas light displays share ideas and build each other up.

“So why not celebrate the spirit of Christmas in memory of Carl, who just loved Christmas time, and do a contest, give other people a fair chance to win an award,” Benton said, “And those that do have the larger house displays be the judges.”

Benton took the idea to Mayor Jerry Jackson and through more discussion the idea to give awards to five houses came out along with the idea to award cash prizes. Several of the organizers have agreed to pitch in $100 each to award to the houses they see as celebrating the spirit of Christmas, as Carl loved to do, the best.

“We [the judges] know how much time effort and money is spent putting these things together,” Benton said.

Submissions into the contest will be through nomination of either yourself or others. To nominate a house, send an email with the name, address, and photo of the nominee to mayor@cityofharrison.com. Questions about the contest can be directed to the mayor’s office by calling (870) 741-2777.