Electric Christmas caravan gives buzz to Utah holiday spirit

By Chris Reed

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    ST. GEORGE, Utah (KSTU) — An electric Christmas caravan of drivers who have decked out their rides in lights has been spotted around St. George, bringing joy and wonder to southern Utah.

Almost nightly during the holiday season, an impromptu parade of vehicles heads out on a journey around town just for the heck of it. As in Deck the Halls, it’s Christmas.

“We just decorated all our cars for Christmas and wanted to show some Christmas spirit and drive around,” explained Oakland Howard, who takes part in the caravan.

It started with Howard driving his peppermint-ed, pimped-out Honda CBR500 into town from 25 miles away in Toquerville.

“I’m glad the motorcycle came in,” said caravan rider Joel Rodriguez. “It just added a bit of magical spirit, I guess, to the rest of the cars. We all showed up and now we’re like kind of just hanging around and being friends.”

None of those involved knew each other before the caravan.

“My little brother saw somebody doing it online and he was like, ‘Hey, do you want to wrap your car in Christmas lights with me?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure!” explained Olivia Allred. “So, and then I just happened to meet one of the other guys at a gas station and he’s like, ‘Hey, we’re all going on a cruise. Do you want to pull up with us?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’d be awesome!'”

The group that started with a motorcycle and a car a few weeks ago has now grown to a baker’s dozen. In St. George, people have been abuzz about the caravan spreading holiday cheer and smiles.

“I’ve actually had people stop me, and I had an older guy, he said, me and my grandkids always play the game so you can find the Christmas cars first when we’re all driving around,” added Allred. “It’s awesome. People are getting really happy about it.”

It’s also not hard to do.

“Just a cigarette lighter and put tape on it and that’s pretty much it,” said Howard. “We just did one of their cars like 30 minutes ago, and it took about an hour with a couple of people.”

But is it legal? On the surface, Utah traffic code says extra lights are permissible as long as they’re not flashing and they’re not alternating blue and red lights. But in a social media post last week, the highway patrol in the neighboring state of Wyoming said they’re illegal there.

A Utah Highway Patrol spokesperson shared that it is “against the state statute to have colored lights on the vehicle like that.” However, St. George Police Department officer Tiffiny Mitchell was a little more open to the idea… with a catch, saying “they can have them placed on the car, but not turned on or lit up while driving.”

Regardless…

“I’ve never been pulled over for it. I haven’t had any issues, and I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s all been good,” said Allred.

“We’re just having fun,” shared Howard, “and showing some Christmas spirit.”

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