Christmas Lights Award Winners Announced

The the first Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Award awarded to Harrison Christmas light display.

The finalists and winner of the inaugural Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Award were recognized at last week’s city council committee meeting.

Mayor Jerry Jackson said, “This was something that I was surprised with probably about six weeks ago.” He went on to recognize Steve Benton who came to the mayor’s office and presented the idea to have the contest in honor of Carl Bear who had one of the largest Christmas light displays in town and passed away in recent years.

The public was asked to nominate houses around town that had the best light displays and email them to the mayor. Benton along with other Christmas light enthusiast toured the neighborhoods and viewed the displays. They came down to a list of five finalists who all received $100. In addition to the cash the winner received the Carl Bear Spirit of Christmas Award.

The finalists included Joe and Shirley Taylor, Kathryn Jones and family, Dennis and CarriePellerin, Tommy and Joanne Tice, and David and Kathrine Youngblood. The winner of the contest was Dennis and Carrie Pellerin.

Dennis Pellerin was unable to be present at the meeting but said in a comment on the meeting’s livestream, “We hate that we could not be there with you this evening, but we want to congratulate the other semi-finalists as well as everyone else that participated. We enjoyed seeing all the lights around town and hope this contest can become an annual event for years to come.”

Benton mentioned how many more light displays were around town this year compared to last year saying, “We lit up the city of Harrison, and it was just wonderful.”

Beverly Bear, Carl Bear’s wife, said of her late husband, “My darling who grew up in downtown Indianapolis was a kind, gentle, caring, humble, quiet guy with huge heart to do for and to serve others. He was always thinking of others more than himself. He was a guy who showed God’s love unconditionally to all, especially with his annual Christmas light displays for over 25 years to show the light, love, joy and peace of Christ.” She thanked everyone involved in getting the contest started and hopes it continues for years to come.