Mayor Khal Asfour with Tony and Leigh Tarran outside their Padstow Heights home.
It takes Tony Tarran the entire month of November to set up the impressive display, which includes thousands of lights and a six-metre tall inflatable Santa.
But it’s not only the smiles on the kids’ faces that keeps the family making their display bigger and brighter each year; they began using it to raise money for charity after Leigh Tarran was diagnosed with stage three brain cancer in 2019.
“After 18 months of treatment, we decided to turn an awful situation into a positive one and try to prevent others from having to go through what our family has,” Leigh said.
“Visitors and passers-by can donate to the fundraising page via a QR code outside the display, and our Facebook page called ‘Cure Brain Cancer – Christmas Light Fundraiser’.”
Mayor Khal Asfour says the Tarran’s Christmas extravaganza is famous among locals, while also attracting people from far and wide to visit Canterbury Bankstown.
“And it’s not surprising that they’ve won the votes of the community and taken out first place in the council’s Christmas lights competition two years in a row,” Mayor Asfour said.
“I encourage everyone to decorate their homes and show the rest of Sydney that the spirit of Christmas is very much alive in Canterbury Bankstown.”
Entries for CBCity’s annual Christmas Lights competition are open until Tuesday, December 13, with a $500 gift card for the winner in each ward and $200 for runners-up.
Enter at cb.city/ChristmasLights.
