Meet the New Bedford Family That Decorates Almost Every Holiday

If you're ever in New Bedford in the area of Coggeshall Street, I highly suggest you take a drive past this house.

For the past few years or so, I've noticed that certain houses and apartments in New Bedford go all out when it comes to decorating, especially around Christmas. It's very common to see Christmas lights and blow up decorations around December, but what about the other holidays? Who out there is decorating for New Years Day or Independence Day? I'll tell you who: the Lopez family.

Crystal Lopez, her parents Alfredo Lugo-Lopez and Ruth Lopez, and her siblings have lived in their Coggeshall Street home for the past two years. Before they moved in, the street wasn't as vibrant, but thanks to them, traveling down Coggeshall will often bring a smile to your face.

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While heading down to Market Basket on Sunday morning, I had to stop and grab a photo of the incredible Fourth of July display they had on their front porch. It stood out proudly and I knew I had to do a little investigating. That's when I found Crystal, who told me all about her family's obsession with decorating the house.

"Give my mom an excuse to decorate and she will," Lopez said. ""I love it, I'm the exact same way, even in my own pre-school room where I teach."

Celebrating America is important for her immigrant parents.

"My mother and father were both born in Puerto Rico, but I grew up here in New Bedford," she said.

The Lopez's previous house and property were too small to do any decorating to this extent, so when they moved into their current location, they were overjoyed to be able to spread a little holiday cheer throughout the year.

For those wondering where someone can store all of these inflatables and decorations, well surprisingly, Lopez's mother has them stacked and organized in their basement.

"She keep everything in the basement as neat as possible," Lopez said. "It became a problem moving in, because she had so much stuff and was forced to get rid of a lot of it. She has a problem (jokingly) and we had to tell her to stop buying stuff when she was out and about."

From Halloween to Independence Day and everything in between, Lopez says her mother's favorite holiday to decorate is Christmas.

Also, while we're in the holiday spirit, check out this throwback to the decorations from around the SouthCoast during the holidays of 2020: