Marty’s Christmas in Cold Lake going dark

[Marty Belisle]

After 33 years of decorating both Halloween and Christmas in Cold Lake, Alberta 2023 was my last year. I had made the decision after the 2022 season to do one last year to let our community know this would be my final year. I was very humbled and surprised how many had made visiting my display part of their own families tradition. Three engagements in front of the lights over the years with so many growing up and now bringing their own kids and grandkids to see.  It was overwhelming to hear all the memories and heartfelt comments, treats, cards received from so many. At the young age of 62 I wanted to end on my own terms, while I was still physically able to pull off a decent display and while my health is good. As you are well aware a display takes months of commitment and does force you to stay close to home during the holidays. Our grandkids are getting older and we would like to start to spend some holidays at their homes to start new traditions. 

The 20k plus RGB musical light display has moved to a small community in Northern Saskatchewan and the static display has been parted out to my kids and throughout Cold Lake as many wanted a memory of Marty’s. 

Huge thanks to Light O Rama, these forums and many of you as I grew with the technology as my display did.  2023 Videos are posted on YouTube searching for Marty’s Christmas (Halloween) in Cold Lake 2023.  Here is the link for my Display walk. Good luck, best wishes, “if you build it they will come”

 

[Orville]

I'm 67, nunerous disabilities, as well as legally blind[extremely skewed and very poor vision, no depth perception or peripheral vision], on top of that, huge loss of hearing and I'm still doing displays for the Holidays, despite my bad health issues, which include COPD and Asthma.   

Takes me a bit longer to get my display up, and I had come close to quitting numerous times, but I'm a stubborn bull-headed old fart that refuses to stop over a few medical disabilities and issues.

My neighbors are always amazed I keep pulling a display off every year.

But everyone has their time, and I know mine will come, but it's coming on my terms, despite what my brain tells me otherwise.🤣🤣🤣

But you had a great run for the time you put into it, and like when any display has to go dark, it'll be missed.  But we all have to do what we need to do.

Good luck with the extra time you're going to have, especially for your family and grandchildren.

Edited February 10 by Orville

[Dennis Laff]

 Hi Orville   well i have been doing shows as long as you 2010   well i finally stopped this year no show  2023/24 Christmas   missed it at what would have been startup but didn't miss teardown.   Anyway best of luck to you and  hope you feel better   Dennis

[Brian Mitchell]

I've followed your display and watched your videos for many years and understand your decision. Love the variety of items in your display. Two years ago after taking a year off, I downsized my display and no longer do a complete walk around of the house and yard.  With just the front yard, we no longer have to tend the foot traffic and be outside every night and it's given us the option to go places if we want .  We still have Santa visiting on the weekends but it's more laid back without the back of the house done.  I miss the full display but in my new job I don't have time to put it up.  I retire in another year,so maybe I'll see.

[Marty Belisle]

Thank you, I guess I should have mentioned I will still have a few static items out and have purchased some permanent RGBW to install so not totally dark, more light normal folks, lol. 

[lightzilla]

Marty I stopped doing a musical light show in 2022.  With the warm fall we had I sometimes wish I did a show in 2023. I went static in 2023. So my musical show ran from 2007 - 2022. If nothing else I saved a couple hundred dollars on the power bill and I even went out and did more stuff and enjoy other things in life. .  Folks in my small town slowly backed off seeing the show after 2017 and came a bit in 2020 & 2021 do to Covid but backed off again in 2022. I don't think it was just the musical show they came to see but the 11ft Ferris Wheel, Carousel , and the train I had is what wowed the folks. Once I stopped using the 11ft Ferris Wheel, Carousel , and the train in 2018 ....it was good-bye. 

Nevertheless my sequencing lives on because I helped out 4 folks this past season and it didn't cost them a dime. I helped a fellow in Texas & he had his 1st show in December 2023. Folks came by daily from what I hear.  Congratulations Marty on a wonderful 33 years. Now go out and enjoy being a grand parent.

Edited February 20 by lightzilla

[Orville]

On 2/10/2024 at 2:32 PM, Dennis Laff said:

 Hi Orville   well i have been doing shows as long as you 2010   well i finally stopped this year no show  2023/24 Christmas   missed it at what would have been startup but didn't miss teardown.   Anyway best of luck to you and  hope you feel better   Dennis

Well in 2023 I started using 3-foot tall garden fence [black frame] panels.  This has not only simplified putting up my display, it has streamlined my take-down as well.  Unfortunately we got weeks of rain, so setup in 2023 didn't go as well as it should have due to weather conditions.  And due to the wet weather didn't get my display operating until sometime between Dec. 1 and the 5th in 2023.  Did what I could between the rains, which wasn't usually very long, 15-20 minute breaks.  I almost called it quits in 2023 because of the lousy, long lasting rainy days and nights we were having.

Anyway, converting to these fence panels for my Coro items, instead of wood frames has made everything lighter, and so much easier to place, carry and move if needed. 

The biggest job I have now is just adding the F-amp pixles to the extender cables, and connecting the extender cables to the props they go to, since I no longer need to run a lot of AC POWER extension cords.  In 2023 I dropped from over 90+ AC extension cords to less than 15 extension cords, dropped my cat5 cables from over 40+ to 5 in 2023 by going to 1 Pixie16D (12V)and 2 Pixie4D's(12V), 1 original 5V CCB100D and an old V2Gen1 CTB16PC ~AC~ Controller that powers my N4G4 Director.  I have a 2nd Pixie16D(12V), has a bad port that doesn't work, still trying to figure out why it flashes random bulbs on the string when connector gets plugged in, then goes dead afterward.  Tested with known good strings and connectors from other ports that work, just port 13 does this.. unlucky 13?🤣🤣🤣

So I may use it as is, as the other 15 ports work perfectly.  So that'd bump my cat5 from 5 to 6 cat5 cables, but that's better than 40+.  But I do use quite a few extender cables and F-Amps, but easier to deal with them than the 120VAC extension plug cords.

So it took me less than a half day to get everything disconnected and completely put away in 2023[actually Jan. 2024], whereas in 2022[Jan. 2023], it took me almost 2+ weeks to get things down and put away.

So I've found a much faster way[at least for me] to get my display up in a day or two[or less if luck and weather permits), but for some reason, tear-down seems to go a lot faster than setting it up.🤔

Edited February 21 by Orville

[Dennis Laff]

Hi Orville nice to hear your doing well I'm located in suburb of Chicago Il just got tired of laying in freezing cold and snow  to put up display and takedown .  have a good year 

[Orville]

12 hours ago, Dennis Laff said:

Hi Orville nice to hear your doing well I'm located in suburb of Chicago Il just got tired of laying in freezing cold and snow  to put up display and takedown .  have a good year 

Only time I was ever in snow was at 2 years old.  So I don't have any real exprience with snow other than that.  Always wanted to visit my Northern relatives, but just couldn't ever seem to manage to go during the winter, snowy months, just to see what it was really like.

But I am sure familiar with rain, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes and thunder/lightning storms and high, gusty winds, and the over-bearing heat we get here in Florida.  This Winter has been extremely mild in my area, haven't had a freeze in my area for 2-3 years now. I think our lowest temp this Winter season has been around 36°F, windchill for a few hours put it feeling like 30-32°, but nothing froze, no frost on the ground or on any vehicles in my neighborhood.

Maybe you should consider moving to Florida within the Orlando area. 

I love the cooler winter months, and even though I'm a true Native Floridian that was actually born here, the summers seem far hotter than what I recall them being as a child growing up in Orlando. 

Sometimes with the summer heat we get here, sure makes me feel like Florida would be a preview of what 👹 feels like!🤣🤣🤣