UPDATES WILL BE POSTED HERE ABOUT OUR 2020 CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW to music located in Harker Heights, Texas (Fort Hood area) as well as on our Facebook page. Make sure to bookmark this page and like our Facebook page to keep up with the latest news.
If you wish to make a donation, you can do so through Cash App, PayPal, or buy an item off of our Amazon Wishlist.
FACEBOOK PAGE: Carlson Light Display
FACEBOOK EVENT: 2020 Carlson Christmas Light Show
YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Carlson Light Display
See our video from last year: 2019 Carlson Christmas Light Show Video
LATEST NEWS FOR THE 2020 Christmas Light Show:
ABOUT OUR 2020 CHRISTMAS LIGHT SHOW:
Feel free to walk or drive by! Our Christmas light show is roughly 45 minutes long this year and repeats on the hour every hour during showtimes. Between showtimes, we have an intermission where the lights are steady on with no Music. To listen to the music during the show, please read the FAQ below.
2020 Christmas Light Show Dates:
December 1 – 25, 2020
2020 Christmas Light Show Times (NEW):
We have shortened our show time this year due to the issues we had last year (people honking in the last show disturbing our neighbors, walking through and tearing up the display, etc…) We will now have someone out there at all times to monitor. On the dates that we cannot have someone out there, we will cancel the show for that night. It has started to cost us more to repair damages than it does to buy actual lights and props for the show.
Dec 1 – 23: 7pm-9pm (last show starts at 8pm)
Dec 24 & 25: 6pm-Midnight (last show starts at 11pm)
Where:
428 Winter Sun Drive in Harker Heights, Texas
Cost:
We keep getting asked how much it cost to attend. Guys, we are just a house in a regular ole’ subdivision who loves Christmas lights and try to be the Griswold’s every year. It’s FREE y’all =)
2020 Christmas Music Lineup:
- THX Intro
- Griswold Intro
- Christmas Vacation Theme Song
- Enter Sandman
- Wizards in Winter
- Mr. Grinch
- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
- >
- House on Christmas Street
- Decorations
- God Bless the USA
- All I Want for Christmas is You
- *20 Minute Intermission (Lights steady on, NO MUSIC)*
Radio Station For Music: 88.1 FM
FAQ’S
How do I hear the Music?
Tune into FM Station 88.1 from your car to hear the music (or with a handheld radio). We no longer have a speaker outside as it is hard to hear over the cars. Make sure you bring a handheld radio if you are walking up to the show so you can hear the music.
What songs are in this year’s show?
Please see the music lineup section above.
How long is the 2020 Christmas light show?
The show this year lasts about 40 minutes with an end of show intermission of approximately 20 minutes. The best time for video is anytime during the show and the best time for pictures is the end of show intermission between shows when the lights are steady on (there will be no music being played during intermission).
Will you post a video of the 2020 Christmas Light Show?
Yes, we will update this post with a video in January, so if you are not in the area make sure to subscribe to my updates on Facebook as I will announce it there when the video is up or on YouTube. We also have a Facebook page set up as well that you can follow!
How many lights are there?
This year we will have about 20,000 lights up that are part of the show. We have started the process of switching to Pixel Lights which allows for one bulb to change to over 1000 different colors. This allows us to get rid of multiple strings of lights (for example, creating the mini trees with 3 different colors of lights just to we could have that one tree change between solid red, solid, green, and solid white or have all three lights on together. Now we can do that with a single strand of pixel lights).
How long did it take to put together?
This year was long, due to Jerry falling off the roof and being out of commission from the very beginning. He had putting them up down to an art form. We on the other hand, well it will take us MUCH longer. It took 2 of us (sometimes 3 of us) working on it daily to get everything put up. All in all, it was about 300 man-hours for putting up the display and Jerry spent about 150 hours programming this year’s show (thankfully most of it was already programmed from prior years shows, the biggest challenge was the new pixel mega tree).
Is there anything else we should be aware of?
Yes! Feel free to take pictures or video from the street, but do not park/walk in the driveway or walk into the yard. We have surveillance cameras set up to protect our property and we will notify Santa if you are caught being naughty! =) Also, please be mindful of our neighbors and do not block driveways or the flow of traffic, cops have no issue writing tickets and they do patrol our neighborhood frequently!
Is there somewhere to park?
Yes, park along the side of the street, but do not park directly in front of the house (you could receive a ticket from the police department for parking within 30 feet of a stop sign if you do), so others can enjoy the show as well, and do not block driveways. You can also park at the school and walk down (make sure you bring a handheld radio to listen to the music if you do this). You can actually see our house from Skipcha Elementary.
Can we walk into the yard or driveway?
No. Please be respectful of our hard work and stay out of the yard and driveway areas. In past years we have had lights damaged causing us to shell out even more money and several man-hours to repair! We have cameras up and will call the police department to have those caught damaging our property arrested for destruction of property and trespassing (sorry to sound grinchy but we just don’t have the extra $500-$1000 that we have to shell out for repairs each season due to damage from others).
It costs us about $35 for each strand of pixel lights we have to replace and if our pixel lights are damaged due to other’s negligence we can’t just run out and buy another strand, we have to buy it online and wait 1-2 weeks for it to arrive. It can actually halt the show. This is why it is so important to stay out of the yards and driveways (we actually had a kid damage our brand new truck one year, costing $750 in repairs, the kid and parents took off leaving us with the bill).
Can we take pictures?
Absolutely, from the road only though! Do not walk into the yard or the driveway. There will be about a 20-minute intermission between shows, where the lights will be steady on to allow for pictures.
How do we donate?
We have been getting asked this a lot lately! The LED lights and pixel lights are what is so expensive and we are constantly having to repair/replace them due to people walking through the display and kids yanking on them. It is even more expensive as we make the transition over to pixel lights.
To put it in perspective, a 100ct strand of LED mini lights from Walmart is roughly $6. A 50ct strand of pixel lights is about $35 (when you include additional strips to put them in and shipping, etc). We also can’t just run out and buy a strand, we have to order it which could take 1-2 weeks to get here, so it would be nice to have extra strands on hand so we don’t have to shut down the show waiting for them to arrive.
RGB Pixel lights allow us to program each individual light bulb into over 1,000 different colors. While they are MUCH more expensive, it also means that we need fewer lights as we do not have to run three (or more) strands of different color lights just to get the effect we want.
You can help us purchase these RGB Pixel Lights by donating through PayPal or the Cash App. We also have an Amazon Wishlist that you can purchase directly from instead as well:
2019 Show Video
See the details of our 2019 Christmas Light Show to Music here.
