About Us
Early Beginnings (1980s - 2003)
The foundation for Wakefield’s Winter Wonderlights began in Ramsay, Michigan, at the home of Gary Sr. and Susan Gustafson. Their son, Jason, had taken up an interest in decorating for the holidays. Jason’s goal each year was to make the display bigger, brighter, and better. The display grew each year, and so did the number of cars that drove by. The locally famous Gustafson Family display was a staple of Ramsay for many years before moving around between the eastern end of Michigan’s U.P. and Illinois through 2002 and 2003.
Nunnemacher Street (2004 - 2019)
In 2004, the Gustafson Family settled in Wakefield, Michigan, at 305 Nunnemacher Street. The new home came with a lot of yard space which helped the display grow even larger. As years went on, Jason and Alex scoured garage sales, estate sales, and thrift stores for “holiday light-ups” to add to the display, sometimes traveling as far as Chicago to pick up the decorations. By 2017, the display had grown tremendously and now featured three bell-shaped pole-mount Christmas decorations from Bergland, Michigan. In 2018, the display grew again with even more of the pole-mounted decorations. In 2019, the Grinch stole all of the lights (in reality, the Gustafsons moved to a new home and decorated there instead).
Indianhead Road (2019 - 2025)
2019’s move brought the Gustafson family to a new home on Indianhead Mountain (now Snowriver Resort). Instead of the flat, snowy yards that the Gustafsons were used to for decorating, they were met with miles of woods and trees. The display shifted from light-up decorations to pole-mounted decorations that Jason and Alex would buy from other collectors and receive from towns that no longer wanted them. Throughout these years, the display changed to solely pole-mounted decorations adorning the trees and fence of the property.
Wonderlights is Born (2025)
Throughout late 2024 and early 2025, the Gustafson Family worked together with the City of Wakefield to discuss a community light display. With garages and sheds bursting at the seams with decorations, Wakefield’s Winter Wonderlights was formed. Jason, Stephanie, and Alex spent the summer months receiving countless pole-mounted decorations and restoring each with new bulbs and fixed wiring one by one. The display was assembled for the first time in October 2025 and opened to the public as a joint operation with the Wakefield-Bessemer Rotary Club on the evening of November 28th, featuring a horse-drawn sleigh ride. The display was a major hit with the residents of Wakefield and the surrounding area, with people even traveling from states away to see the lights. Wakefield’s Winter Wonderlights concluded its 2025 season on the evening of December 31, 2025.
