If you go
› What: Shepherd Hills/Ridgeside Holiday Luminaries› When: 6-10 p.m. Monday-Tuesday› Where: Shepherd Hills and Crescent Park communities (see map)› Cost: Free
Mary Crain thinks looking at Christmas lights from the comforts of one’s own vehicle is an ideal way to celebrate the holidays.
It’s become a decades-long tradition for the Chattanooga resident, who particularly enjoys viewing the lights displayed in the annual Shepherd Hills Holiday Luminaries event, which runs Monday and Tuesday and is open to the public. Residents of the small community – officially known as the city of Ridgeside – will light small candles and place them in paper bags along the edge of their front lawns.
Crain has vivid memories of the lighted display in the enclave of 162 homes, located on the backside of Missionary Ridge between Shallowford Road and Tunnel Boulevard.
“My mother took us through Shepherd Hills every year,” says Crain, 63. “Mother would put all five of us (siblings) in the car, and any neighborhood kids who wanted to go. We would roll the windows down to drive through. Every house was decorated beautifully.”