After COVID Break, Enander’s Winter Wonderland Walk-Through Lights Display Open In Nokomis

NOKOMIS, FL — With a growing family, in the early 1990s Bob Enander thought decorating their Nokomis home for the holidays would be a fun activity for his children.

It started simple enough with icicles on the roof and traditional lights on the bushes out front, the Chicago transplant, who moved to the area 35 years ago, said.

Then, he discovered Lori’s Lighted D’Lites, a North Florida business that creates custom-designed light displays. That’s when the family’s holiday light display “got out of control,” he joked.

“I found that whatever I could draw, they could make,” Enander said. “It’s really unlimited. That’s part of the fun. We started with the (Noah’s) ark and animals. As the kids got older, there were dinosaurs. By the time they got to high school, it was Santa playing basketball and football and reindeer bench pressing (weights.)”

He added, “A lot of stuff matured with the kids getting older. They eventually started drinking and now we have dogs playing (beer) pong.”

Today known as Enander’s Winter Wonderland, his family’s free walk-through holiday display is a Sarasota County destination each Christmas season. The public is invited to walk his 2.5-acre property and enjoy the lighted décor, which features more than 400,000 lights and more than 400 figurines.

Visit Enander’s Winter Wonderland

Address: 2281 Mission Valley Blvd., Nokomis

Hours: 6 to 10 p.m. through New Year's Day (Learn more here.)

Cost: Free

Three computer systems are set up to control the holiday music playing in different areas of the display, he said. And the family sets up a snow machine, going through four gallons of snow concentrate nightly.

Many of the walkways are paved, allowing those in wheelchairs or with mobility issues to enjoy the holiday scene. And buses filled with residents from nearby retirement homes tour the property each year. Since they can’t leave the bus, Enander’s son boards it to talk about the light display as they drive through it.

On weekends — and on the days just before Christmas — the family welcomes anywhere from 1,200 to 1,400 visitors each night, Enander said.

To accommodate the traffic, he even purchased a second property a couple hundred feet from his home to use as a parking lot. The land can fit about 85 cars and Boy Scout Troop 1001 volunteers to direct traffic in the neighborhood.

“I like to say it was a great $150,000 investment so you can park cars for free three weeks a year,” he said.

Twenty-seven years after they started decorating their home, it remains a family affair. All four of his kids are grown now — ranging in age from 27 to 44 — and married. Their spouses, as well as Enander’s seven grandchildren, also help with the holiday fun.

This year, his 7-year-old grandson climbed on the roof to help him hang lights. When his daughter — the child’s mother — saw him on the roof, she “gasped” and got worried, he said. “And I reminded her, ‘How old were you when you were helping?’”

Enander is amazed by how much his family tradition has grown in nearly three decades.

“Somebody took a drone video and I looked at it and it looked like an amusement park,” he said. “I knew it was growing but I didn’t really know how much until I saw it. It started out as this small drive-by thing.”

Related Stories:

• Sarasota Christmas Lights: Best Holiday Lights Displays Of 2021
• 'National Lampoon' Inspires Sarasota Family's Holiday Lights
• Profane, Political Holiday Lights Anger Sarasota Candidate's HOA

As his lighted décor became more elaborate after the first couple of years, he started putting some in the yard, which isn't visible from the street.

“My wife asked how people will see them from the road. I said, ‘I imagine they’re going to have to park and walk up and see them,’” he said.

Last year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Enander’s Winter Wonderland switched back to a drive-by scene. This limited the number of lights he could put up, so neighbors allowed him to spread his display onto their properties.

“It was a big change,” he said. “All of a sudden we were going out to movies and dinner in December. We didn’t know what that was like. Normally, where there every single night the lights are on.”

This year, the display is once again a walk-through destination. The family has added about 40 new items to the “always changing” display, from new huskies for Santa’s sled to squirrels jumping over a log and even a handful of gnomes, Enander said.

“It feels real good to be back,” he added. “The biggest thing is making people happy. It's great in today's world that you can just do something for free that people just enjoy.”