LA GRANDE — Christmas lights of the past are helping a Union home sparkle in the present.

The lights on display at Joel and Jill McCraw’s home at 780 Serenity Lane in Union won the Union County Chamber of Commerce’s honor as best decorated home in the county for 2019.

The McCraw family’s display includes a type of flashing lights on the roof of their home that are hard to find today.

“They don’t make these type of lights anymore,” Jill McCraw said.

The display features thousands of colorful lights on their front roof, including heart-shaped configurations, a mass of striking lights covering the front exterior of their home, four 6-foot trees with strings of lights and an inflatable Santa in a sleigh in the front yard.

McCraw credits her parents, Sam and Kari Rosti of Star, Idaho, with having a big influence on her family’s display. Her father purchased the inflatable Santa, and her mom taught her a lot about the art of putting up Christmas decorations while she was growing up in Star.

McCraw also credits her husband and their young sons — Joey, Jace and Jordy — with providing her with the inspiration needed to set up this year’s display, which took 40 hours to complete.

The award the McCraws received was 12 years in the making since they have been putting up their decorations since moving into their home on Serenity Lane in 2007. Each year they have been adding to the lights in their display. The McCraws will receive a custom ornament from Boylan Studios and Birddog Glass and a $200 energy credit for winning the Best House of Union County award.

The chamber’s 2019 Holiday Decorating Competition also named the La Grande County Club as the winner in the business category.

The country club will receive a $50 Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative energy credit and a trophy. The country club won the award based on its energy-efficient lighting and “overall sleek appearance,” said chamber director Suzannah Moore-Hemann.

Dana Londin, general manager of the country club, was excited to learn of the news.

“This is awesome,” he said.

Londin said the country club’s decorative lights are energy-efficient LEDs, the type of lighting the club uses throughout its building. He also said the streamlined look of the decorative display was by design.

“We wanted something that was simple but still stood out,” Londin said. “We wanted it to be classy.”

Moore said the judging in the business category was “incredibly close,” with a number of very competitive businesses. She said the Union Carnegie Library and Blue Mountain Barbers were close behind the La Grande Country Club. She credited the library and the barber shop with displays exhibiting unique charm and eye-catching decorations.

The Best Town award went to Island City for having the highest percentage of its population participate in the contest. La Grande’s nearest neighbor will receive an award certificate and a trophy.

The Best Block/Neighborhood award went to the G Avenue and Cedar Street vicinity in the 400 to 600 block area, La Grande.

The Chamber of Commerce teamed with John Howard & Associates and Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative to conduct the contest. The competition committee judged entrants on creativity, energy efficiency, creative non-energy decorations, theme and overall showmanship. The following are the first-place winners in the residential category for each town in Union County. The names of the owners are from the Union County Assessor’s Office.

Best Houses

Cove: 60670 Love Road (Randall and Linda Botham)

Elgin: 1299 Division St. (Ronald Aiels)

Imbler: 250 Main St. (Glen and Karen Olsen)

Island City: 10712 McAllister Road (Kevin and Penny Hampton)

La Grande: 1812 Foley St. (Pete and Stacey Candlish)

North Powder: 740 Fifth St. (Joseph and Marcia Maddox)

Summerville: 201 Highland (Lyle & Iris Mann)

Union: 222 W. Bryan St. (John and Norma Pepper)

Overall Union County Grand Champion: 780 Serenity Lane, Union (Joel and Jill McCraw)