The Yarbrough family has a website about their lights display: http://www.brightonbrittain.com/
Here's the article:
Published Saturday, December 06, 2008
Christmas display has radio music broadcast
At the Yarbrough residence in Timberidge subdivision off U.S. 29 North, Christmas begins in March.
"That's when my husband, Loren, starts programming the lights and the Christmas music," said Jenny Yarbrough, 205 Brittain Way.
The Yarbroughs have 50,000 lights set to 128 computer-controlled channels, all set to music. This year's playlist includes "Carol of the Bells," "Wizards in Winter," "Music Box Dancer," Crazy Frog's rendition of "Jingle Bells," "Silent Night" and a nativity narrative.
"We've had Christmas lights for 13 years, but this is our fourth year of animation," said Yarbrough.
The show lasts 15 minutes and has proven to be a big hit, she said.
"Oh gosh, we probably have 300 to 400 cars a night," she said. "Last night was our first night this year and we had 30 to 40 cars, but it really heats up as we get closer to Christmas," she noted last week.
"Thank goodness we live in a cul-de-sac!" she said.
Although she admits she's "never asked the opinion" of their close neighbors, no one has complained. In fact, she said, they try to go out of their way not to inconvenience anyone.
"I think if our neighbors close their blinds, they won't even know we're here," she said.
There is no loudspeaker system, she said. Instead, the Yarbroughs have a tiny broadcast radio station in their home, and they send out the signal to anyone who cares to listen.
"We tell them what station to tune to, and it's on a continuous loop," said Yarbrough.
This year the Yarbroughs opted for professional voice-overs, which make for a more thoroughly entertaining program, she said.
"It says, 'Welcome to the home of the Yarbrough Christmas Light Spectacular!'" she said.
The display is red and green this year and consists of driveway arches, leaping arches, and a "mega-Christmas tree surrounded by 12 mini-Christmas trees."
The Yarbroughs are raising money this year for the Coweta Community Food Pantry.
"We've set up a donation box," said Yarbrough. "Last year we did one night for ACE. This year we decided, times are tough, the shelves at the Food Pantry always seem to be bare -- if people can afford a few dollars to try and help some people out, why not?"
People often want to donate to offset the costs of making the display, she said, so it seemed like a natural thing to do.
"We don't want to make any money off of it. This is our hobby," she said. But some of her husband's friends have collected as much as $15,000 in past years with their light displays, so they're hopeful they can raise some badly-needed funds for the food pantry.
"If we collect even a few hundred dollars, we'll be happy," she said.
It takes about 300 hours of programming time to set up the light display, she said, "and we started carrying up lights from the basement on Nov. 1."
The whole house is now in LED, she said, which saves on electric costs.
"But since we're a programmed display, very rarely are all the lights on," she said. "So our power bill is way less than you might expect, because they're always moving."
The Yarbroughs have no intention to slow down, she said.
"We're already talking about what we're going to do next year."
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Nights of Lights
Other displays on the list so far:
• Brian Todd and Harris Smith’s families combined displays at 1331 and 1341 Bethlehem Church Road. The lights surround a lake.
• Hugh Nash and family, 50 Canterbury Drive, Grantville. Lights are on from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. or “until about 10” on the weekends.
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