The unassuming rocky half-acre of Little Island is adding a little sparkle to the harbor this holiday season.

This year, Jay Wurts and his partner Catherine Lacause put lights on the three trees on the small isle.

“A lot of people who live on the harbor string lights up their flagpole. Catherine got the idea, ‘Why can’t we just string lights on the island?’” said Wurts.

The island, also called Rock Island, came with Wurts’ Water Street home, which he purchased in 1990.

“I like it because in the fog there’s something to look at,” said Wurts, a tech entrepreneur who moved to Marion full time two years ago.

Wurts had never considered adorning the small rocky patch with lights until Lacause came up with the idea. Unfortunately, Dec. 15 last year was a little too late to engineer lighting on the island.

Even starting in early October, Wurts wasn’t sure they’d be able to make it work, but he was determined to try.

“This year he really surprised me. He was gung ho about it,” said Lacause.

The island could use a little TLC after years of being battered by storms.

“Before the Hurricane of 38, it had tall trees on it like Ram Island. It was all wiped out by the storm,” explained Wurts. “The trees grew back and then Hurricane Bob wiped them out again.”

In the past 24 years, a few firs have staked their claim on the island. From the shore, the three trees look deceptively small, but the couple had to employ a boat hook to string the lights. They used about 1,000 LED lights that take only about seven watts to power. For electricity, Wurts attached a small boat battery and then a larger one to a solar panel. He set a timer to light the bulbs from 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. And it worked.

For Wurts and Lacause, watching the trees glisten in the breeze and seeing the glowing reflection on the water has become a new evening pastime.

“Normally in the winter when it’s dark we build a fire and have some wine and sit in front of the fire. The last three weeks we’ve been sitting in front of the window watching the trees,” Wurts said.

Although he isn’t sure how the lights will fare when ice inevitably sets in, Wurts plans to leave the lights in the trees through the winter.

Neighbors seem to approve.

“They think it’s great,” said Wurts. “What I really am dying to know is what do boats think.”

Boaters sometimes miss the island on the charts and run ashore, but they shouldn’t have any excuse this winter.

“They’re probably looking at the chart thinking. ‘What the hell is this?’”