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It took a little longer than expected for Santa and his three reindeer to make their appearance on top of the Lakeland Electric building this year. And Lakelanders had questions.
In a Dec. 8 post in the Facebook group “We Live in Lakeland & I Have Questions,” a user shared a picture of the utility building’s bare rooftop and the caption, “So disappointed Santa isn’t where he belongs, I know damn well I pay enough on my electric bill to put him up once a year.” The post garnered over 2,000 reactions, 72 shares and 102 comments.
One user said, “It’s not Christmas without them!!” Another quipped, “They couldn’t afford Santa this year without another rate hike.” And one Facebook user posted a GIF of the Grinch.
Finally, on Dec. 10, Lakeland Electric cleared up the mystery of the missing Santa and reindeer with a playful Facebook post of their own explaining that roof repairs caused the delay.
The display was installed today, just a week before Christmas Eve on Dec. 17.
A crew assembles Lakeland Electric’s Christmas light display on the roof of the utility’s downtown building. | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A crew assembles Lakeland Electric’s Christmas light display on the roof of the utility’s downtown building. | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
Santa’s mittens on the roof of the Lakeland Electric building | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A crew assembles Lakeland Electric’s Christmas light display on the roof of the utility’s downtown building. | Anna Toms, LkldNow 
A behind the scenes look at Lakeland Electric’s 2025 Christmas light display on the roof of the downtown building. | Courtesy of Lakeland Electric 
Lakeland Electric’s 2025 Christmas light display on the roof of the downtown building | Courtesy of Lakeland Electric
About the lights
Santa and the reindeer are each 25 feet tall, said Cathryn Lacy, utilities marketing manager at Lakeland Electric. The display was designed and built specifically for the Lakeland Electric building. Each one is made up of individual sections with attached lights that are put together like puzzle pieces, then suspended on a frame over the side of the building.
“We missed them, too,” Lacy said. With the lights hanging down almost halfway over the windows on the top floor of the building, “It feels real Christmas-y in the office, … you, kind of, see a reindeer hoof sticking down over your window.”
Lakelanders and Lakeland Electric staff are not the only ones who look forward to the lights each year. “The birds love to come during the daytime and sit on them, so we get amazing wildlife through those windows,” Lacy said. “We’ll see hawks; we’ll see Osprey.”
“I feel like people try to schedule more meetings on this floor during that time of the year,” she said.
A major overhaul
The arrival of the decorations was delayed by a major overhaul of the 35-year-old building overlooking Lake Mirror. The project included new wiring, ventilation equipment and a new roof for the first time since the utility moved into the building in 1990, Lacy said.
A proposal for the project was filed with the city in February 2025, citing “constant leaking in the building caused by the age of the roof.” Advanced Roofing Inc. out of Ft. Lauderdale provided the lowest bid at $710,796.00, and the proposal was approved unanimously by the city commission on Feb. 3.
Initially, the project was scheduled to be completed in early summer, but some materials were delayed, sized incorrectly or others damaged during transit, which required replacement, said Dan Anderson, administrative services supervisor with Lakeland Electric. The city and utility also planned around expected weather delays that never came during hurricane season, which also further delayed the project.
There have “just been a lot of moving parts up here, and we were hoping to have it done. But … of course, they run into things that take more time than what they thought,” Anderson said.
In the end, they assembled the Christmas decorations on the very first day there was enough room on the roof. They will be taken down after New Year’s Day.
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