-      Our 2007 Christmas display was featured on a DVD of other great display’s across the Nation. Greg Young Productions produced the DVD called “Holiday Lights 2007”

       The DVD features 48 Display’s across the country with a passion for decorating. To purchase the DVD, go to the links page here on our web site and there you will find the link with ordering information.

 

            Display Props

 

       Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer: Rudolph the talking animated deer returns this year and assists Santa in DJ at the North Pole Dance Club
 

      
       North Pole Dance Club Characters: Santa, Mrs. Claus, the elves and snowmen perform the music you hear and the lights dance to. They are behind a plexi-glass enclosure that keeps them out of the elements.

       Crashing Star: A star appears to crash in the yard. When it does, strobe lights flicker throughout the yard.

       Mega Tree: The mega tree has Clear, Red and Green lights that chase around the tree at pre-determined times of the show.

       Lighted Arches: The arches dance to the music giving the impression of dancing water.

       Letters to Santa Mailbox: Kids… Drop off your letters or color a picture for Santa and put them into the mailbox. We will deliver them directly to the North Pole daily for you. In fact, if he has a chance, if you leave Santa and e-mail address, he’s been known to sometimes write kids back!

       Candy Cane Box: Help yourself to a Candy Cane while you enjoy the show.

       Stage Lighting:Various special effects and stage lighting helps Santa and his Garage band put on a better show for you!

     Count Down to Christmas Sign: This snowman counts down the days, hours, minutes and second ‘till midnight Christmas morning!
 

Stat’s and Facts:

Stat’s and Facts
Controllers:
             There are 3-American DJ 15 amp light controller which turns the background lights on and add for effect.
             Then there are 8-30 amp “Light O’Rama” controllers which are the brains of the operation. They are controlled by a computer that tells 128 channels when to turn on/off/, fade up/fade down, twinkle/shimmer, or be at a predetermined intensity that is fully programmable from 0-100%.
           Then it’s all put together in a computer program that comes with the controllers to “flash” the lights to music by using a graph chart.
           The show is programmed at 1/10 of a second for a total 24 minute and 50 second show! Meaning that for every second that any individual light or strand is on, off, flashing or what ever it is doing, it was programmed to do that at 1/10 of a second.
           That comes in handy because music is not set to seconds and the lighting effects would be ruined if they came on or went off 1-2 seconds too early or late.
           Once the show is completely programmed it is set to run and loop on a schedule using the days of the week and the times it is supposed to run.

Sound:                                                                                                                                                                                       The music and voices were mixed using an audio mixing program called
 “Nero X-Press” in a mini recording studio in our basement. The music is delivered using a Radio Shack SSM-60 DJ Sound Mixer and a Radio Shack 35 watt MPA-46PA amplifier which delivers sound into two 12” upright Q-Power speakers on stage and 2-12” speakers mounted inside rocks to blend in with the landscape.



Strands of lights: 1,200

Number of light bulbs:
Mini - 18,252
C7’s - 268
Flood Lights - 21

Extension Cords: 46

Time to program the show: 480 hours

Time to set up lights/decorations and build props: 42 hours spanning over 3 weeks with the help of many friends and family

Preplanning: Ideas for the show started last Christmas but got really serious in February when it came time to start programming the show. The show was completely finished being programmed during the second week of November this year.

Storage: A 20’x 30’ storage shed holds all the holiday decorations for both Christmas and Halloween. The storage shed is located on a farm near Erie where Jess’ dad and step mom live. The decorations are shipped to and from the display in an enclosed trailer

Our inspiration: We’d be lying if we didn’t say we do this partly for ourselves including our daughter Tayler and son Colin. In addition to us and them though, we also do this for everyone who comes to see it. We enjoy seeing the faces of children light up when they our display!

Estimated cost of decorations: We’re asked this question a lot. To be perfectly honest, we don’t know! We feel, and hopefully you agree, that it’s more important to us that you just enjoy yourselves After all, that’s why we do it! We’ve been collecting decorations and lights for several years now and have costs figured into our annual budget for holiday decorating.

Estimated cost of power bill increase: Less than $50.00! Most of the strands are mini’s that draw only .5amps of power. In addition, many of them are fading, only at half intensity or off during parts of the show which saves on power as well!