From left: Thomas Newlin, Madison Lawlor, Arthur Yost (Missy’s father), Missy and Pete Lawlor.
Most people don’t need precise directions to the Lawlor house.Drive your car along Porchtown Road in Pittsgrove Township, and you’re bound to find it: Look for the lawn that could be practically spotted from space.
More than 95,000 lights will do that.
For Waze or Google maps users, tap in 182 Porchtown Road, Pittsgrove Township. Bring your patience—this light show draws a big crowd every year.
The Lawlors—Pete and Missy, along with their daughter, Madison—wouldn’t have it any other way.
Visitors will usually find Pete and Missy in festive costumes, taking photos with the little ones and chatting up people who have made the Lawlor Light Show a Christmas tradition.
“We’ve had quite a few people tell us we are a Christmas tradition for them,” said Madison Lawlor, adding that parents will put their children into their jammies on Christmas Eve, then drive them to the house so they can take in the ever-expanding show.
Pete Lawlor, who recently retired as a police officer with the Delaware Port Authority, doesn’t know how much it has cost in dollars and cents over the years. Actually, it doesn’t matter much at all to him or his family.
What matters is how much joy it has brought others.
The family uses the lights to help gather Christmas toys for needy kids as well as food for families in need. The location is an official drop-off spot for the Toys for Tots Foundation, according to Pete Lawlor.
Years ago, people wanted to donate to the family to help them pay their expensive electricity bill. The Lawlors wouldn’t keep the money, but instead channeled it into their two charities of choice.
The electric bill? They fixed all that with a backyard full of solar panels.
“That helped tremendously,” said Pete Lawlor.
Last year, visitors donated enough toys to fill two trucks and an entire trailer.
The Lawlor Lights in Pittsgrove is now in its 21st year. It’s a long way from their more modest beginnings at the Philly row home they once occupied. The light show really took off once the family moved to their next home in Merchantville.
Once they settled into their house on Porchtown Road, however, the family had more than two acres of frontage to fill with Rudolf, Santa, snowmen and happy little elves.
They did have to make a few adjustments, however, including a wraparound driveway to accommodate the long lines of cars. The driveway helps keep the road clear of traffic jams.
The family starts the process in late September, hooking up wires and starting the long process of setting up displays. Last year, a storm somewhere around Christmas took out nearly a quarter of the displays, including a beloved Gingerbread House.
That’s when Madison had an idea: Let’s put a callout on Facebook during yard sale season for Little Tikes playhouses, which could easily be converted into stables for Santa’s reindeer, a toy workshop or more gingerbread houses.
One of the best parts of the season is seeing people return year after year, the Lawlors note. One young man they’ve come to know used his birthday as a way to collect a few extra toys, which he would donate to the Lawlors for Toys for Tots.
They have made so many new friends through the tradition.
“We have people who come every year and stop to talk to us,” said Pete Lawlor. “One guy whose daughter was sick made it a tradition. Now that she is better, they still come.”
