Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives 2020 map #GloucesterMA 🚗☕🎄✨⛄Update 2 – Portuguese Hill, other stretch Essex Ave

Update 1

Essex Avenue stretch between Causeway and Richdale; Western Avenue near Stage Fort Park; Kent Circle and Stage Fort Park. Check back as more neighborhood batches are added.

First batch pictures posted for 2020

Elizabeth Road, Washington Street to Reynard Street/Cherry Street, Warner Street, Thurston Point 

When I was a girl, my family, like many other families, considered every nocturne drive a chance to look for Christmas lights. Of course we carried on this tradition with our own children. The magic of the season is so easy to find in neighborhoods throughout Gloucester and all of Cape Ann. Coasting past classic New England home styles decorated for the holidays– while driving along bends and dips in the roads by charming coves– is sheer visual delight. There is a surprise around every corner.

Plus the season’s early nightfall is most welcome for little ones’ bedtime enchantment. Throw on some comfy holiday attire and toss in a thermos of hot chocolate to make it an extra special treat for the youngest, and the young at heart, and the perfect outing for social distancing in this year of Covid. Repeat visits are encouraged because there’s so much to see and more added every day.

Last year readers asked for a map. Here are some of the homes spreading cheer NOW with their Christmas lights and holiday yard displays. Is your favorite friendly seasonal character out there? Or favorite color lights twinkling bright? I’ll continue to update the map and snapshot photographs, including specific requests and location recommendations from GMG readers.

THIS WEEK – And still more attractions with festive lights coming soon.  First Annual Winter Lights Display on Cape Ann starts December 7th. Check out all the businesses and organizations readying light displays downtown and local shopping!