Ending our show for the year...

[JeffF]

Seems like the news story we had done on our lights has "done in the lights" for the year.

Even though the story didn't mention our address, or street name, or anything, people found it and tonight they closed our road right down a few times by stopping both ways. (Our road is a rural road with a 45MPH speed limit and a blind hill up the road from us)

At one time we had over 40 cars where only about 30 cars fit. Playing our "Don't block traffic" announcement did nothing... it was like a Christmas light frenzy out there.

If you knew the road you'd be horrified that people were stopped on it.


So... the wifey agreed with me that we are pulling the plug for the year and unless we can figure something out for next year we're going to take a year off. There is a farm field across the street from us that one of our neighbors thinks we might be able to use for parking so we have our finger's crossed.

Can't believe how many people found the house or that it only took 2 minutes from the time the lights were turned on late(at 8pm tonight since we had family stuff going on) until the time the road was bumper to bumper... it was 110% nuts. :{


So... I post this as a warning... even if you think you're being clever... watch out... I guess this really is the information age.

-Jeff

[cenote]

Wow, that stinks. I am one of those people too, that refuse to due news clips. Have heard to many of these cases threw the last couple of years. It's a real shame that there are so many drivers out there that can't figure out how to be safe. Hoe you find a way to turn them back on. Maybe try turning them on during the day????

[Surfing4Dough]

Yesterday I turned down my first media request for an interview. I don't want to have to manage traffic, nor want any neighbors to be upset. Nobody has objected to the gradual increase in cars over the past few years due to just "word of mouth." I worry about somebody giving a news station a "heads up" about our cool display, and they broadcast it without me knowing, and then looking out and seeing 20 cars outside our house.

[Max-Paul]

This is my second year. Maybe my show is nothing to gawk at? Maybe it is because I am about 5 miles out of town? Not that I sit at the window or anything else. So, I dont really know for sure how many sit out front at a given time. I have walked over to a window in one of the front bedrooms and most of the time it is empty street out front. I have caught a car now and then sitting out there. Did see someone taking pictures without flash (red light coming from the passengers window for focus). Its a double edged sword. On one hand wish more people would see the display. Yet I am grateful for no problems with a traffic jam that some of you have had to deal with.

[JBullard]

I have always turned media requests down

[Guest Don Gillespie]

JBullard wrote:

I have always turned media requests down

I am with you on this I did one last year but this year I have turned down all requests for interviews and will not do them in the future either traffic was crazy last night Merry Christmas to everyone

[JeffF]

I'm kicking myself for allowing it to be honest... but the wifey and son really wanted to do it... even after I said no they really wanted to do it.

I thought we were being clever by not mentioning our address or road but I didn't think about them mentioning our last name... I honestly thought they weren't going to seeing how my wife or I never gave it to them. (guessing my son did when he was doing his big interview)


Our display is 10 miles away from the closest town in all directions so we usually only have 4 to 10 cars at a time. But last night was crazy... absolutely crazy.

Having slept on it the wife and I are going to leave the lights dark without the transmitter on or the blowups up for the next couple/three nights. Then we'll put the lights on for an hour or so and see how that works out.

I had a few emails this morning from local people(ie. NOT the people who came out just because of the news) and they think the frenzy will die down quickly because we're so far out of town.


At any rate, I'm glad my son had a blast doing his interview and I'm keeping my finger's crossed we can get back to our semi-crazy traffic instead of that madhouse we had last night for 50 minutes.

And from this day forward... I don't care how much begging goes on... I will never, ever, EVER allow the news to broadcast our house again!!! :dude:

-Jeff

[Tim Herberger]

Wow, I didn't realize you had to completely shut down, that stinks and also explains why when I went to you Ustream feed all the lights were and still are off. Were you able to turn them back on at all the past few nights?

Traffic here on Christmas eve was crazy here as well and that was without ANY media coverage, I turned down several requests and explained to them why. 30-40 cars at a time are normal during peek hours and I usually switch to a shortened version of the show from a 30 minute loop down to 15 minutes. But several times throughout the evening there were cars backed up 1/4 mile down the road, 100+ cars and I was ready to put a 7 minute version of the show on but my wife said wait 15 minutes and see how things look then. Things returned to more "normal" level and I never had to go to the 7 minute version, but I was nervous all evening. Traffic never got to comfortable levels until 11:00, I think Church services letting out were responsible for the several extreme traffic increases.

I hope you can run your show a few more nights before the end of the season, after all the hard work that goes into our displays and the season is short enough to begin with.

Good Luck, Tim

[JeffF]

We've tried to put it on for just us to enjoy a few times but for some reason people are just stopping in the middle of the road to watch now. It's odd... we are thinking the locals all know the road and know you shouldn't just stop in the middle of it, while the "news story people" are just out to catch the lights and stop thinking once they find them.

We've had the house completely dark for 2 or 3 nights now and we are still getting people parking in the driveway, flashing their headlights at our house(which is really annoying I might add). Hell... last night we had a women knocking at our door at 8:30pm wanting the lights on... which we can understand... to a point. But we would *NEVER* think to knock on someone's door like that.

We are having friends over one night next week for one last show. We figure by then people will have stopped thinking Christmas lights and even if we get a road full of people, we are going through our sequences one last time for the year.

And for next year, we are having a stripped down show on the front of the house with ~15,000 lights... and the back of the house will have 75,000 lights of pure goodness for family and friends to enjoy.

-Jeff

[Austen]

This was my first year being on the news. While I saw a little increase in traffic, nothing like this happened. I never had over 2 cars at one time slowing down to look at my display. I'm not sure if I should be thankful, or a little disappointed.

[JeffF]

Austen wrote:

I'm not sure if I should be thankful, or a little disappointed.

Definitely be thankful. We had the news come out back in 2008(our first LOR year) to increase traffic and it worked well. But that increase was not impossible to deal with and it really helped our charity drive.

Last year we kept to ourselves and traffic still increased, but again, it wasn't impossible to handle.

This year, I started off by saying absolutely not to anything news. Then once the kiddos and momma started begging... the daddy side of me overruled the realist side of me and here we are.

I'm pretty much still a noob with this whole thing and I have a newfound respect for some of the old(er) timers here who have said all along... NO PRESS.

I have that little saying printed out now and hanging in our shed.

-Jeff

[Austen]

Jeffrey wrote:

Austen wrote:

I'm not sure if I should be thankful, or a little disappointed.

Definitely be thankful. We had the news come out back in 2008(our first LOR year) to increase traffic and it worked well. But that increase was not impossible to deal with and it really helped our charity drive.

Last year we kept to ourselves and traffic still increased, but again, it wasn't impossible to handle.

This year, I started off by saying absolutely not to anything news. Then once the kiddos and momma started begging... the daddy side of me overruled the realist side of me and here we are.

I'm pretty much still a noob with this whole thing and I have a newfound respect for some of the old(er) timers here who have said all along... NO PRESS.

I have that little saying printed out now and hanging in our shed.

-Jeff

Hahaha!


I guess I kinda want the news, because we just moved and I wanted to let people know that.