Fletcher insisted his business didn’t organise its own display for recognition but instead as a way to give back and offer somewhere for locals to admire Christmas lights.

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“It was more like, hey, we have an opportunity to do something good for the community and the council’s probably a little bit stuck with what they can do, so let’s help,” he said.

“For families that maybe don’t have the time or funds to even get to the city at that time of year, it’s good to have something local where they can come down and enjoy the same thing.”

Elizabeth Wharton was meant to drive past the village on her way into the city but stopped to have lunch in High Street because her five-year-old daughter saw the giant Christmas tree from the car and wanted a better look.

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“It makes you feel happy, it’s very festive,” she said.

“It’s good that they’ve gone to all this effort because as we were driving out from Gippsland, there wasn’t a lot of decorations in many of the towns.”

Honnie Polman has lived in Berwick for more than 50 years and said the decorations were the best she’d ever seen in the village.

“It’s made a great impact on Berwick,” she said.

“I was surprised when I first saw them go up because I didn’t know, and I thought to myself, ‘I don’t think council’s going to spend this amount of money’, because you could see immediately that they were of a very high standard.”

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Casey Mayor Stefan Koomen thanked Bodega on High for the “generous contribution” and said it was a great example of businesses giving back to their community.

“We value this proactive community spirit and are proud to work alongside our businesses and residents to spread festive cheer,” Koomen said.

Fletcher hopes the decorations can be used for at least five years and has turned his thoughts to February, when he will start planning the display for Christmas 2026.

“Hopefully, we can build on it each year and then more people get involved and it just becomes bigger and bigger,” he said.

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