FAQs

Will you do a Halloween show?  We do some props with a Halloween theme around 31 October, but do not intend to do any lights to music for Halloween. Besides living in a rural area (our average number of trick or treaters is zero) we are still cutting the grass in October. Lots of the props, cables and power is run through the yard for the Christmas show and it is not practical for a full-blown Halloween sequence where we have to pick them up every time we mow. Mr. Johnson puts the RGB wreaths up on the house with Halloween ‘skins’ and lights them up as pumpkins, along with the house outline lights in Halloween colors around 31 October.

What are some typical responses to asking people what they most like about the show?  Most kid’s responses are: “the Frozen songs”. Typical adult response is: “they like the fact they don’t have to put up the Christmas lights”.

Don’t you wrongly credit who performs “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”?  “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft in the 1966 movie “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”, our sequence is sung by Burl Ives from his “Forever Burle Ives Vol. 2” album and is credited correctly.

Why do you do this?  Because Mrs. Johnson loves seeing Christmas lights and loves the Christmas season.

Is this a walk through or drive through show? Our show is a residential home that puts this show on every year. You park in the INDOT parking lot across the street, tune your car radio to 107.1FM and you can stay as long as you’d like and watch the show. Please stay in your vehicle and do not enter our yard.

Who is the Narrator? Our middle son, Jarod does the narration with occasional support from our Granddaughter, Jaclyn and Jarod’s wife Candice.

How many lights are in the display? Over 8,000 ‘lights’. The light show is really defined by props. Each prop has between 1 light (like a flood light) to more than 800 lights (the megatree). Props also range from controlling a string of ‘old’ incandescent lights (the bows), to ‘new’ LED lights (deer and gift boxes), and the ‘latest’ RGB lights (megatree, talking faces, and roof outlines). Every prop with RGB lights are controlled at each light – program light #72 in the string to turn on to a specific color and brightness.

How long does it take to set them up? Planning is year round. Serious prototyping of the next light show starts 5 July, after the 4th of July fireworks are cleaned up.  Christmas music is heard in our house starting in August. Bringing it all together is a solid one week of 10+ hour days.

How many songs are in the show? In 2023 there were 40 songs. Click her for list of songs.

Most Number of cars?  We don’t know on a per night basis but one night those with pickup trucks were parked in the field and the INDOT parking lot was full!

How much electricity? The entire system, when running, is about 1,500watts on average. Which equates to roughly a $45 increase in my electric bill for November and December.

What runs the show? Light-O-Rama software and hardware is at the heart of the show! A single PC, running Light-O-Rama software, dedicated serial communication lines to Light-O-Rama hardware controllers connected to each light prop.

How many donations have you raised for WonderLab? Since collecting donations starting in 2018 we have raised more than $3,500 for WonderLab. Click here to donate.

What do your neighbors think?  We are in rural Indiana and have one neighbor, who is our biggest fan that frequently brings guests to watch the lights and helps set up!

Can INDOT turn off their numerous flood lights during the show? Apparently not.