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What time does your show start?


debtoews

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Like Robert I too get a lot of traffic, including lines waiting at times. I'm in the cul de sac with one other house. In my experience traffic will be at it's worst when your local students are out of school fire the holidays. This is how things usually go for me.

Show starts at 6. Pretty calm with traffic.

By 630/7 it gets busy fire a couple hours.

Dies down by 9/10.

Like I said the busiest is when kids get out of school. The other buddy times are the two weekends before Christmas.

To me your case is not typical though with 16 houses. You probably will have many more busy days given the fact you have 16 houses working together.

I'm changing up my hours to accommodate myself and my neighbors. I'm doing a 545-630 then restart at 8-10 or so. Gives my family and neighbors a break. After 9 years going on ten it is needed.

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Thanks guys fro all your input!  Since we already have printed materials made up we will be sticking to the 5:30 start time this year.  Since this is the first year with 16 houses, we really dont know what to expect.  Cant wait to share some videos with all of you-  :-)

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Just make sure you and your neighbors have a good plan for traffic. That'd the key and volunteers to help with the volume and flow.

I'm assuming you'll have voiceovers too. I made a map using a screenshot from Google maps and posted it to our Facebook page. Got the idea from my friend Roger. Put in a few text boxes with info and some arrows.

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Amen on when the kids get out of school!  Not only do my students come, but they have to bring another car (load) with them because they can't all fit in one!

 

Oh... 16 houses. Missed that one!  Yeah you better have help! Lots of signs to direct traffic too. If you hit the news (especially in a big TV market), all bets are off. You better be prepared. Especially if competing TV stations get wind of it. That is a big deal with 16 houses. Oh... think about getting the local law enforcement to help or at least warn them. It will be a problem if you don't (unfortunately).

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I am a stones throw from central time so it doesnt get dark until 6pm. Show starts promptly at 6 every night. Show runs till 10:45 every weekday night, 11:30 on weekends. Week of Christmas it goes till at least 11 and sometimes midnight.

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Just make sure you and your neighbors have a good plan for traffic. That'd the key and volunteers to help with the volume and flow. I'm assuming you'll have voiceovers too. I made a map using a screenshot from Google maps and posted it to our Facebook page. Got the idea from my friend Roger. Put in a few text boxes with info and some arrows.

 

Yes- we have a traffic flow set up with a map on all our printed material.  One neighbor is a cop and the city is aware of what we are doing.  Trust me..this has been a daily event planning, making to do lists etc...tons of work but Im sure once it finally starts, its will all be worth it!

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Amen on when the kids get out of school!  Not only do my students come, but they have to bring another car (load) with them because they can't all fit in one!

 

Oh... 16 houses. Missed that one!  Yeah you better have help! Lots of signs to direct traffic too. If you hit the news (especially in a big TV market), all bets are off. You better be prepared. Especially if competing TV stations get wind of it. That is a big deal with 16 houses. Oh... think about getting the local law enforcement to help or at least warn them. It will be a problem if you don't (unfortunately).

 

News channels already aware as well as local new papers.  We will be interviewed on a BIG local morning show the week that we officially open.  So we are expecting large numbers of people right off the bat.  Im sure next year- it will be much easier as we will know what to expect!

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 @dgrant: I keep my outdoor speakers just loud enough for bicyclists or walkers to hear close to the house, but low enough not to disturb the neighbors during the day, and I use the FM Transmitter for the day music since my neighbors love to be able to tune in and listen to non interrupted commercial free Halloween themed music in their house.   So having an FM Transmitter helps a lot along with the outdoor speakers for the kids out playing.  

 

I also have many, many hours of Halloween themed music and always adding more, so  repeated songs happen occasionally, but not as often if I just did a select few here and there.  I also use the random option to play the daytime music, that way songs aren't played in a specific order and get a better variety.  

 

 

When I do run a show, I use that option as well, keeps the show a bit different each time it plays.

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 @dgrant: I keep my outdoor speakers just loud enough for bicyclists or walkers to hear close to the house, but low enough not to disturb the neighbors during the day,

Forgot I do something similar to that, especially at Halloween. I do use a FM transmitter, but not "wired" outdoor speakers. I have a old boom box that I use. This way, especially at Halloween. I put a boom box on one of my LOR channels to turn on (I don't run the daytime music). I have the boom box in one of my black storage tubs by the mailbox. The lid is closed. Waterproof and also keeps the sound down. Halloween and not raining? I crack the lid open. Brings the volume up.

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I too have "wired" speakers though I am planning an FM station this year. Got my "Tune to" sign I gotta start building. Yay!

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You know when it was mentioned about using the multiple houses, I thought of this show;

For me, I think this was one of the first pixel displays I had seen.  I can't find the threads (maybe on Planet Christmas?) where Brad Boyink talked about the different traffic issues he had ran into. Again this was a whole neighborhood apparently to my understanding. I think I had read where he had to move it to a indoor space but didn't realize it got shut down as well.  That is always a scary to me thinking that the traffic would cause me to get shut down. Fortunately right now my "Sheriff" neighbor has always been pretty excited about the show ;-) Hopefully he will help me keep it going for some years going forward :-)

 

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Robert...we are a 501c3 and we have 2 other LARGER than life light displays...not concerned at all about being shut down...the City would look bad shutting us down and the community wouldnt stand for it.

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Robert...we are a 501c3 and we have 2 other LARGER than life light displays...not concerned at all about being shut down...the City would look bad shutting us down and the community wouldnt stand for it.

That is awesome. I hope you put together a type of behind the scenes video, pics, thread about your experiences. Where will this be located? I am sure for most of us it is often hard to go and see other shows during the "season". So again, anything you can share when it is going on would be great.

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That is awesome. I hope you put together a type of behind the scenes video, pics, thread about your experiences. Where will this be located? I am sure for most of us it is often hard to go and see other shows during the "season". So again, anything you can share when it is going on would be great.

 

Robert- I am in Clovis California- which is Central California..you know the place that grows everyone's fruit and veggies but has no water..lol  I will do my best do record the pre-show activity..this has become part of my daily life.  Every single day its convo's about issues, plans, building things, sequencing the music, emails, phone calls, board meetings...etc etc etc!  But I promise I will share some video/pictures of this craziness!

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I'm hoping to see your videos and will try to show others here in my community as well so I "might" talk them into doing the same or similar things.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is a great thread and is actually something my husband and I are concerned about:  TRAFFIC.

 

Our neighborhood is a "one road in, one road out" neighborhood and we're on the main thoroughfare to get in and out.  Additionally, our streets are narrow so as to avoid street parking of any kind.  We're worried that if we do a show, the folks on our street and ESPECIALLY the folks in the back of the 'hood will get ticked off if we end up causing a bottleneck at our house.

 

We already tend to create a bottleneck since we are the only Griswald house in the front section of the 'hood (the only other house that goes crazy is in the very back section).

 

I know when my own family visits home with light shows, we only stop for a minute or two and then drive on if a car pulls up behind us - we don't sit for the whole thing.  Would it make sense to just do a 30 minute show that runs on a continuous loop and assume that people will only sit or a minute or two before driving on (especially if cars pull up behind them)?

 

I just can't think of how we can work with being the main road AND having narrow roads that make it difficult for cars to simply "go around."

 

But we REALLY want to do a show starting in 2016!!

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Jaynee if you are just starting out with an animated show and in your situation I would defintely do one or two SHORT songs and call it a day. Sounds like you may have an impossible situation with a small road AND it being a main road in / out of the neighborhood. Maybe ONE short song one night, another short song on another, then another, another... Maybe advertise this fact on a Facebook page or website. I was surprised how many people go to my Facebook page while they are also watching the show. I use this transmitter. Has RDS in it. I put the Facebook link in there. Maybe do something like that to advertise your playlist?  Just a thought.

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Thanks for the idea, Robert.  Yes, I do think I'll stick to just a few short songs and clips to begin with, and see how it goes.  I left my neighborhood's facebook page a while back because those people are CRAZY, but maybe I'll sign back up simply to let them know the plan for the music.

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This NIGHT I actually went in with my show editor (while the show was running and my daughters were directing traffic) and dropped to two short songs. WE HAD to get traffic moving. It was a 45 min. wait just to get in front of the house at that point (some friends said). Getting traffic in front of your display is a great feeling. But if your on a tight street like mine and have some crazy neighbors... you don't want to tick them off ;-)  Find some songs your neighbors like too, that always helps :-)

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I bought some cookie jars with cookies from SamsClub, attached Christmas cards and personally handed to my immediate four neighbors. I also apologized to them for the traffic. They all had the same/similar response that they were loving it! I'm in an association here too but also on the board. My first year, I advised them up front what might happen with traffic as word got out. Last year, there was a line of cars waiting 30-45 minutes just to watch a song or two...mostly one of the two frozen songs. I had to bump up those two, to every 3rd song to keep the traffic moving.

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