By Mikayla van Loon
When it comes to Christmas decorations, Lilydale has built a bit of a reputation for having some of the best over the last few years thanks to some passionate community members.
Since 2019 the Lilydale Main Street Beautification committee has been bringing Christmas joy to town and what started as just a small project has grown year on year.
Sharryn Manning and Helen Darvell are the planners behind the decorations and even though the committee only had limited time, they decided to go bigger this year.
“We just didn’t have as much time as we would have liked but we got it done. Because of Covid, we didn’t start until quite late, we only had a month to get everything done,” Ms Manning said.
“We started planning by advancing on what we’d done last year and so I suppose we worked out how many extra things we wanted,” Ms Darvell said.
“We had the topiaries and we had about 20 of those. So we ended up making another 40 and we had the wooden Christmas trees. We had about 13 of those and we ended up with 50 of them, which we put through the main street.”
The committee also made the reindeers, snowmen and Santas placed around town, spreading from one end to the other.
Ms Manning said last year around six people helped paint and make the decorations, as well as put them out along the main street. This year that had doubled, with around 12 people getting involved.
The Christmas decorations have become a real community effort, with the Rotary Club of Lilydale, the Lilydale Township Action Group and local residents lending a hand and donating funds to ensure the spirit of Christmas can live on in Lilydale.
But the most amazing part is the feeling it brings others when they stop to have a look and the smile it brings to people’s faces.
“So many people stopped us on Sunday (29 November), when we were putting them up and said, ‘thank you’. It was really very pleasing,” Ms Darvell said.
“When we were installing all our Christmas trees, there were people all along the cafe’s watching us and waving, people coming past tooting. So they do appreciate it,” Ms Manning said.
When the beautification committee formed, one of the biggest requests from the community was the return of Christmas decorations along Main Street and for another year, they have been delivered in spectacular form.
“I thought there was a need for some Christmas cheer in Lilydale and it seemed to me there hadn’t been for quite a few years,” Ms Darvell said.
“I think it’s nice to do community things. That’s why I got involved because it’s just a nice feeling and a nice way to contribute to the town.”
