Video: Homeowner's annual spectacular Christmas display a hit again
Last year, Scott Garling's Christmas music and light display, at 2111 Elton Road in the hamlet of Ionia, drew notice from newspapers, TV news crews and hundreds of curious spectators. People Garling doesn't even know sent him Christmas cards, thanking him for "sharing the holiday spirit." He even got a letter of recognition from state Sen. Michael Nozzolio.
This year, Garling, 37, beefed up the display with 2,000 additional lights, an array of new songs and a smattering of light-up palm trees. The house and yard have been decked out with more than 8,000 lights on about 80 strands; there are shining stars, disco-light Christmas trees and a Santa or two for good measure.
"Nothing over the top," said Garling. "It's actually not as much as I wanted - I still have about 20,000 lights that never went out this year."
What makes Garling's display unique is that his lights "dance" to a score of Trans-Siberian Orchestra classics and other Christmas songs, blinking on and off in time with the music. The soundtrack is played over the radio - at 95.5 FM - with a low-wattage broadcaster that allows people to hear the music while taking in the light show from the warmth of their cars.
<object width="425" height="355">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MbDTCjGiKMs&rel=1" />
<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />width="425" height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MbDTCjGiKMsrel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object> Garling started his lighting tradition last year after his brother discovered a product on the Internet called the "Light-O-Rama," a computerized light-control system produced in Hudson Falls over in the Champlain Valley and available online. Systems like the Light-O-Rama are catching on, says Garling, and less-fancy imitations of the product are now available at drug and discount stores. Much of the lighting systems' popularity stems from a 2005 Miller Lite beer commercial that featured a light and music show similar to Garling's. Garling and the beer-commercial mastermind are just two of more than 4,000 international lighting aficionados who gather on the Web site www.planetchristmas.com to exchange tips and swap videos of their final products. Choreographing the lights is a painstaking process. It takes Garling between four and six hours to synchronize each minute of light-play, and songs are broken down into units as precise as one-tenth of a second. Hanging the lights takes time, as well - this year he started putting the display together just after Halloween, and he flipped the switch to light it the night after Thanksgiving. Though the display requires a significant time investment, Garling says it isn't as financially expensive as most people would think. "Last year's electric bill for running the lights for a month and a half was just about $60 - less than the cost of keeping them on full-time," he said. Garling said he had planned to make the show more elaborate this year but didn't want to retool all of last year's efforts, opting instead to spend more time with his family before the holidays. But Garling's eyes are always open, his creative juices always flowing. When he drives around at night, he collects lighting ideas, and when he sees a mediocre lighting display, he imagines how he could jazz it up. An unlit house is to Garling what a blank canvas is to a painter. "I drove by the courthouse in Canandaigua the other night and thought, 'Man, what I could do with that!" said Garling. Given a subsidy, the right equipment and a willing staff of volunteers, Garling says he would even consider doing a town lighting display someday. Garling's light show, at 2111 Elton Road, runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 5 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through New Year's Eve. For more information about his lights, visit www.magicalholidaylights.com. <em>Contact Hilary Smith at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 343 or at hsmith@mpnewspapers.com.