Community Chat

[Alison Wonderland]

I think it's a lot of things.

Viral videos online have inspired people and made them think they can be the next sensation. TV shows like The Great Light Fight do the same. Some neighborhoods and apartment complexes offer prizes for decorating.

There are some neighborhoods that have had that one person who had a crazy front lawn that the neighborhood knew about, but now those people are in the newspaper and on YouTube and someone always wants to be the next guy to get that attention.

And technology has made it easier and cheaper for someone to create spectacular light shows with an app on a phone and some things from Lowes.

A few towns over from where I grew up, one guy was known for having an enormous nativity scene in his yard, with a village full of figurines, lights, and music playing. The entire neighborhood would get jammed up and he had to limit the amount of time he displayed the lights and music. That was over 20 years ago.

NOW, there's a guy in my hometown who is known for making massive lighted sculptures on his roof. (Homes on his street average 3,000 square feet, so he has room.) 

In 2015, he started with a 23' Death Star on his roof. (YouTube video here.)

In 2017, he had a huge Millenium Falcon (YouTube video here.) It also became a neighborhood project.

Now it's 2019 and he has TWO ships, a Tie Fighter and an X-Wing fighter, battling it out on his roof. (YouTube video here.)

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[Pearlee]

My original post starting this thread wasnt prompted by anything spectacular nor any competition among neighbors outdoing each other. There just seem to be more lights out this year where I live with more eye-catching and better displays
None, though, are of a magnitude that stops traffic, although I've slowed down at a few just to take them in and appreciate their beauty.

[Oznell]

Our street is a fairly short one, but come to think of it, I think we have more houses decorated with lights this year. The big Victorian on the corner is always dark, because a young man bought it (it was a white elephant) and is slowly renovating it in his spare time.  He lives elsewhere.

But the rest of the street has been twinkling with lights-- even more so since a sizable ranch down the street, that had been on the market for a long time, was recently purchased and is now occupied and festively lit!

It's pretty.

[gardenman]

I decorate outside every year with a big wireframe tree and four small trees on the corners of my porch. My big wireframe tree lost the top half of the lights last night and when I did the troubleshooting today, to my immense surprise, the lights had blown the fuses in the plug. I've been using miniature lights for over forty years and this is the first time I've ever seen that. Luckily I have a lot of the little fuses around, but I've never had that happen before. It was the last thing I had left to check and surprised me to find the fuses blown.