Arlington\u2019s Interlochen Lights<\/a> was ranked number eight last year in its list of America\u2019s top 10 Christmas displays.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was unexpected,\u201d\u00a0said longtime resident Ralph Sobel. \u201cI truly believe it\u2019s unique. It\u2019s not that there\u2019s one spectacular home, because there are 200. From that regard, it\u2019s pretty special that we were recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n
What makes the Interlochen Lights sparkle enough to catch People magazine\u2019s attention? For 50 years, this northwest Arlington neighborhood has gone twinkle light crazy. Now almost 200 homeowners deck the halls, the roofs, the lawns, and the porches with Wonderland\u2019s finest. The result? A crawl of cars with merry visitors inching along a two-mile loop, gawking at the over-the-top d\u00e9cor. <\/p>\n
All this sparkle and glow does attract a bit of attention, not just from People magazine, but from carloads, wait, even busloads, of merry-making lookers. And the Arlington police are paying attention.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CD-Interlochen-lights.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
These are the Rules<\/p>\n
So, the police have issued the rules for 2025 that need to be followed. Not adhering to such rules might land you on Santa\u2019s naughty list.<\/p>\n
First of all, the official hours are 6 to 10 p.m. beginning Saturday and continuing through Dec. 25. Because the waits can be longer than waiting for Christmas, the PD advises being in line no later than 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
The Arlington Police Department will be on duty like Santa\u2019s helpers, staffing traffic posts to keep sleighs\u2014 er, cars \u2014 moving safely through the Interlochen Christmas Lights. All motorists must enter the neighborhood from Westwood Drive at Randol Mill Road, where signs will point the way, much like Rudolph did that foggy Christmas Eve, to travel along the two-mile trail of twinkling homes.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CD-Interlochen-Hannakuh-1024x768.jpg\")
This lawn combines decorations to celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas.<\/p>\n
Homeowners Own It<\/p>\n
According to Sobel, the neighbors love all this. Realtors promote it during the sales process, and some homebuyers who have admired the neighborhood\u2019s camaraderie and yearly twinkle fest pounce when a home goes on the market.<\/p>\n
It all happens with neighbors helping neighbors, Sobel said. He gives big credit to Realtor Noelle Slater with TDT Realty and her husband, Kyle. Relatively new to the neighborhood compared to some residents, the Slaters help some of the more senior neighbors with their decorations. The couple has been collecting extra decorations all year, offering to assist in both putting up the decorations and also tearing them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make 2025, the 50th YEAR, of The Interlochen Lights, the best ever!,\u201d Slater wrote in a letter for the neighborhood newsletter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clever Marketing<\/p>\n
All of these over-the-top decorations began as a clever sales pitch for a new subdivision, and now five decades later, it\u2019s a twinkling legacy in North Texas. In 1976, developer Robert Findlay and his wife, Carole, lit up the neighborhood with dazzling decorations to lure homebuyers to see their new residences. Today, neighbors keep the lights glowing in tribute, a glowing tradition each holiday season.<\/p>\n
Just like waiting for Santa Claus, patience is part of the holiday tradition. Plan to spend about an hour before entering the neighborhood and then another hour enjoying the glimmer and glow.<\/p>\n
The veteran visitors know that having a plan is a must. Pack snacks and good cheer before attempting an Interlochen-style fun, family night. The police department has suggested routes for finding the tour\u2019s start.<\/p>\n
Visitors heading west on I-30 are advised to take the Fielder Road exit, then travel south to Randol Mill Road. A right turn there leads to Westwood Drive, the gateway to Interlochen\u2019s dazzling holiday trail. Those arriving from the east should exit at Eastchase Parkway, continue south to Meadowbrook Boulevard and turn left. From Meadowbrook, follow to Randol Mill Road, turn right to arrive at Westwood Drive, where the magic begins. To preserve the flow of holiday traffic, all other streets into the neighborhood will be closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 50 years, Arlington\u2019s Interlochen has dazzled with its Christmas decorations. Landing on People magazine\u2019s radar is no…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":442236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7948,203914,44679,7371,7372,203915,203916,155743,203917,203918,203919,133260,203920,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-442235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arlington","10":"tag-arlington-police-department","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-fort-worth","13":"tag-fortworth","14":"tag-interlochen","15":"tag-noelle-slater","16":"tag-people-magazine","17":"tag-ralph-sobel","18":"tag-robert-findlay","19":"tag-sales-pitch","20":"tag-santa-claus","21":"tag-sexiest-man-alive","22":"tag-texas","23":"tag-tx","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-us","29":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115706298160110526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CD-Interlochen-daytime-decor-1024x768.jpg\")
For 50 years, Arlington\u2019s Interlochen has dazzled with its Christmas decorations.<\/p>\n