Weaver's Winter Wonderland: a Rohnert Park Amusement Park

Rohnert Park knows Scott Weaver. The people who live in this city know his house. Starting on Dec. 1 each year — every year for nearly 17 years —  the house that's tucked back on a sleepy cul-de-sac called Cielo Circle, radiates with thousands of holiday lights.

It's called Weaver's Winter Wonderland, after Scott Weaver, and it's become a kind of amusement park that attracts hundreds of people each winter.

Weaver hand-crafts cartoon and holiday characters, and forms a series of displays on his lawn, his roof and on the house's actual facade.

A cutout of a Great Dane greets guests who approach. A donation box, adorned with lights and painted red and green, kindly asks for PG&E donations. Beavis and Butthead are dressed up like Santa. The Nutcracker is tucked way in back. Fake stuffed penguins line the exterior fence.

Weaver, 50, developed a passion for Christmas and decorating that goes back to the early 90s. Each year his light display grew bigger and bigger, until one day, this father and artist slowly began to work his festive displays into neighboring Cielo Circle homes.

On a nearby lawn, the "island of misfit toys" are displayed. The Abominable Snowman towers higher than one neighbor's home. Jessica Rabbit poses on another next-door lawn. Even neighbors down the block off of Snyder Lane start putting up holiday lights early, creating a crecendo effect leading to Weaver's. 

Weaver looks forward to creating his work of art all year, like a kid waiting for Christmas morning.

But things don't really get serious until the fall.

"I usually start in the first week of October with planning what to do for new neighbors or maybe adding a new display for someone," Weaver said. "This year we only added 22 new cutout displays — like Mr. Magoo, Spongebob, and the Smurfs."

"One of my neighbors really wanted to add the Smurfs because her kids and grandkids really liked the Smurfs so I made them for her."

It turns out that 22 new cutouts is a rather small number for Scott, as he has added over 120 new displays in a previous year. He does all the work for the displays for free and only asks for material costs if he doesn't already have what he needs in his shop.

Each year Weaver is allotted five weeks of vacation from his job as a produce manager at Lucky's grocery store in Novato. But, he sets aside four of those weeks for preparation. 

"During those weeks leading up to December I am working seven days a week — anywhere from eight to 12 hours a day."

The City of Rohnert Park awarded him a plaque in previous years for community service.

Because of this, setting up his lights is a way for students at Rancho Cotate High School to earn community service hours towards the 40 hours they are required to have to graduate.

"It's great to work with the kids and get to know the people in the community," Weaver said. "Plus, they get a lot out of it learning how to set-up displays and use tools."

Currently Scott has about 20 of his neighbors involved in the displays. One of them, Kelly Butler who has been in the neighborhood for 15 years, is more than happy to be part of the Christmas extravaganza.

"Well Scott made everything in my yard," Butler said. "Including Sleeping Beauty and the prince dancing, the fairies and the 20-foot-tall dragon."

He also made Roger Rabbit and Jessica Rabbit, a couple Dalmatians (there are all 101 of them around the court) and some candy canes and soldiers." 

Butler is the co-director for the Rohnert Park Children's Chorus.

She recently started adding something new to the show in the way of a free concert right before Christmas.

"This will be the fourth year that the choir will sing in front of Scott's house and this year includes kids from the Cotati-Rohnert Park Co-op Nursery School, Casha's Little Ones and Missy's Daycare," she said. The free concert this year will be on Decc 23 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Plenty of locals come out early and often to see the lights even while Scott is setting up.

"Sometimes I see them circling around when I'm on my way home from work," he said with a chuckle. One local resident, Erica Auble, said she toured the neighborhood before Dec. 1 to get a "sneak peak."

"Oh we will definitely go again," she said. "It is one of the light displays that my older daughter absolutely loves go to."

Aside from the local community the Weaver lights have gotten plenty of attention over the years.

ABC has done segments including his displays and he placed third in 2008 in a national competition hosted by Kentucky Fried Chicken and last year took first in a contest run by Disney Corporation.

ABC has reported that:

"Weaver has transformed his Rohnert Park home into a castle with 293 handcrafted characters, 40,000 lights, a waterfall, a tower, a train and a bubble machine. His self-described "Weaver Winter Wonderland" gets bigger every year." 

"Winning the award from Disney meant a lot," Weaver said. "But really I do all of this for the kids."

On any regular night, like clockwork, Weaver can be found outside making small adjustments to the displays; handing out candy canes to kids; chatting with people who come to see the extravagance; and really, just basking in his creation.

Decorating houses with holiday lights is a time honored tradition stretching back to the 1950s. It was in 1956 when electric lights first began to appear on outdoor trees such as those at Rockefeller Center and Disney's Christmas tree.

From there lights started showing up on people's roof lines, railings, windows, and doorways. Since those humble beginnings, some people have taken light decorating to a whole new level of artistic sights that entertain friends, neighbors and in some cases entire communities.

The Weaver lights run from Dec. 1 through the Dec. 31 from 5:30 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Warm clothes and a thermos of hot chocolate are highly recommended.