2002
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~15,000
Forest Trees: 3
Control Device: Photocell Sensors
Light Usage: 100% Incandescent
Amps Drawn: ~60
Breakers Thrown: 30-40...
Setup Time: 4 Days
15,000 lights and 1.6 miles of wire - this was my first venture into "Public View" as I moved my lights from the back of my family's house to the family office in town.
The boat, Frosty, and Santa all made the trip out, and the first "mini forest" of PVC trees and "pond of lights" emerged.
Of note, I wouldn't have thrown so many breakers if I had figured out sooner that one of the plugs I was using was on the same circuit as the well pump... it was a strange coincidence that whenever someone flushed the toiler that the breaker tripped and 1/3 of the display went dark!
The 2002 display - the first display at the Mason Realty office in Deltaville. Click for more photos
2003
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~3,000
Control Device: Indoor Switch
Light Usage: 100% Incandescent
Amps Drawn: ~10
Breakers Thrown: Only 1!
Setup Time: 1 crazy night
2003 marked my first year of college, and I was away from home - 10 hours away in Atlanta! This distance made it virtually impossible for me to put on a light display, and I decided to take the year off.
Then, one night around the 18th or 19th of December, Mom & Dad went out to eat and made a Wal-Mart run. I was left at home. And I got bored...
When they returned, I had pulled 3,000 lights and 4 blowmolds & wireframes out of storage and absolutely decked the dogwood tree in our back yard. It was the last time I ever decorated that tree, and it was by far the best I'd ever done.
The 2003 dogwood tree with Frosty & Pete the Penguin.
2004
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~32,000
Forest Trees: 12
Control Device: 5 Photo Sensors
Light Usage: 100% Incandescent
Amps Drawn: ~90
Breakers Thrown: Many dozen...
Setup Time: 7 Days
In 2004, I transferred to Virginia for the rest of my time in college (VCU, Go Rams Go!). And with my return came the return of the light display!
For the first time, I stretched the display across the entire width of the field - over 100' wide, and most notably, the first 20' Mega Tree of lights was born! Numerous long-standing features were added for the first time this year, including Frosty's lighted arch and the river feeding the pond of lights.
2004's Display - Click for a full gallery of more photos!
2005
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~24,000
Forest Trees: 11
Control Device: 4 Photo Sensors
Light Usage: 100% Incandescent
Amps Drawn: ~65
Breakers Thrown: 20ish...
Setup Time: 6 Days
While 2005 was destined to be the biggest display Deltaville had ever seen, with computer controlled lights and music, time limits and technical setbacks postponed those plans for a few years, and a small scale-back occured.
But 24,000 lights did make it up! A design not unlike 2004's, but symmetrical, the field featured the 20' mega tree and 10 other PVC trees in this second rendition of the "Forest" of lights. This was also the first year of the blowmold nativity scene out by the road.
Despite the computer control for the entire display not coming to fruition, a one night test of the mega-tree dancing to Nat King Cole's "Happiest Christmas Tree" was successfully run.
2005's symmetrical forest of trees. Click for a full gallery of more photos!
2006
Location: My Imagination
Lights: Millions
Control Device: Wireless
Light Usage: All the Lights
Amps Drawn: Infinite
Breakers Thrown: None (truly a dream!)
Setup Time: Instantaneous
OH NO!!!
2006 was a sad year for the display. Due to college/job/misc. time constraints, there was no display of any kind for the first (and to date, only) time since I started doing lights in 1996. It was a sad sight seeing a dark office during Christmas.... Everywhere I went in town, I was asked why the lights were not up! I made certain 2007 would not suffer the same fate...
One of numerous 2006 features :)
2007
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~52,000
Forest Trees: 15
Control Device: 12 Mechanical Timers
Light Usage: 100% Incandescent
Amps Drawn: ~170
Breakers Thrown: 20ish...
Setup Time: 8 Days
I was back in action in 2007, and to make up for the lack of lights in 2006, I more than doubled the display! We had to run a 20 amp line to our neighbor, J&W Seafood, just to power the display!
The forest was bigger than ever, with 15 PVC trees, and two additional "mini-mega" 15' trees were built this year. It was also the first year we used wreath stands to create mini-Christmas Trees of lights.
The 2007 Forest - Click for a gallery of more photos!
2008
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~55,000
Forest Trees: 19
Control Device: 12 Mechanical Timers
Light Usage: 99.5% Incandescent, 0.5% LED
Amps Drawn: ~180
Breakers Thrown: A couple dozen...
Setup Time: 9 Days
2008 was a modest expansion of the 2007 display, with a reconfiguration of the layout into what to this day remains one of my favorite designs of all time.
One addition this year was the "ice cube" experiment, which morphed in later years into the "Iceberg" that has become a fixture of the pond scene.
The 2008 display - Click for a full gallery of more photos!
2009
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~71,000
Forest Trees: 17
Control Device: 154 Computer Channels
Light Usage: 99% Incandescent, 1% LED
Amps Drawn: ~190
Breakers Thrown: A couple dozen...
Setup Time: 15 Days
After 2005's aborted computer control attempt, 2009 was a successful implementation of synchronized Christmas Lights! The display featured 144 channels of computer control! Four years after my first test of synchronized lights, we finally had an animated display!
The display featured 71,000 lights and was designed in the theme of years past, but was executed at whole new level. While most of the features remained similar, the middle section of the display, consisting of the 20' Mega Tree, two 10' trees, 8 mini-trees, and 2 brand new light arches, was controlled by 144 channels of computer control. Each of these trees feature red, blue, green, and white lights on separate channels so that they can change colors, and the mega tree is controlled by 64 individual channels so that it can chase, spin, fade, mix, and do all sorts of crazy effects! The 10' wide arches feature 12 channels each, and jumped back and forth magically. The mega tree alone had over 13,000 lights!
2009's Display - the first musical display! Click for photos & videos!
2010
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~73,000
Forest Trees: 21
Control Device: 180 Computer Channels
Light Usage: 96% Incandescent, 4% LED
Amps Drawn: ~190
Breakers Thrown: 2 or 3...
Setup Time: 11 Days
2010 featured over 73,000 lights in a redesigned, yet similar display from 2009. Some additions of features to the animated show make their debut, and a thicker and redesigned static forest populated about 10% more of the field than 2009.
The 2010 display also marked the first significant use of LED lights in the display - the 3,000 lights on the roof and some of the bushes were switched from standard mini lights to LED mini lights. (Though I'd be lying if I told you I was doing it because of "going green", the real motivator was I was out of power and couldn't add more lights without replacing some standard lights with the low-power LED's!)
View from across the street - Click for more photos!
2011
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~77,000
Forest Trees: 17
Control Device: 180 Computer Channels
Light Usage: 83% Incandescent, 13% LED
Amps Drawn: ~180
Breakers Thrown: 2 or 3...
Setup Time: 13 Days
More than 77,000 lights were in the 2011 display. The layout, a departure from past setups, stretched straight across the 100' wide field in a symmetrical setup, with a half-dozen trees on either side of the 5-tree "show" setup.
The usual suspects returned, including the boat, frosty & his arch, and several other familiar characters. A "Dog Village" sprouted up, building on a small scene first used in 2010. The "Ice Cube" of 2008 returned in the form of a "Glacier", complete with a bear and tree atop it.
The animated display featured the same elements as 2010, including the 14,000 light, 23' Mega Tree, 2 rebuilt lighted arches, two 5,000 light 10' trees, two 1,600 light 5' trees, and 8 700 light 2' "mini trees".
The 2011 display also marked the second year of significant use of LED lights in the display - Nearly 10,000 lights were energy-saving LED's, including many of the bushes, most of the "snow lights", and most of the "water lights".
The 2011 display - Click for a gallery of more photos!
2012
Location: General Puller Highway
Lights: ~82,000
Forest Trees: 25
Control Device: 180 Computer Channels
Light Usage: 80% Incandescent, 20% LED
Amps Drawn: ~198
Breakers Thrown: 2 or 3...
Setup Time: 12 Days
2012 expanded the display to over 82,000 lights, and featured expansion of most of the scenes that populate the display each year. The display was reconfigured into an arc in the field, to allow more trees and scenes to be set up.
More and more LED's continued to be implemented, this time, in the range of over 15,000 lights (approximately 20% of the display).
The 2013 Display - Click for a full gallery
Click to take a look back at the evolution of the display
The Early Years (1996-2003)
It's Gotten Out Of Hand... (2013-Present)
The Move Into Town (2004-2012)
The display's humble beginnings trace back to a weekend in 1996. I was 12 years old.
"I thought it was a phase..." -My Dad
The Move Into Town (2004-2012)
It's Gotten Out Of Hand... (2013-Present)
The Move Into Town (2004-2012)
My family's house was in the woods, down a 1,500 foot driveway. I decided I really wanted people to see the lights, so the display moved to a vacant lot beside the family business.
It's Gotten Out Of Hand... (2013-Present)
It's Gotten Out Of Hand... (2013-Present)
It's Gotten Out Of Hand... (2013-Present)
What was once I drive-by display you watched from the road turned into a walk-through, immersive and interactive experience, starting in 2013.
Deltaville Lights is BACK for 2024!
We're in "Soft Open" mode December 1-6, and hope to be FULLY lit for Saturday, December 7th!