CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — A Crawfordville man, dubbed Mr. Christmas, has become famous for his yearly holiday display, a project he has designed and built since 2012.
- His display has over 100,000 lights that light up his yard on Songbird Avenue.
- Working on the display takes hours every day to have everything perfect.
- Watch the video to hear how neighbors feel about the display.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Mr. Christmas' yearly light display has been a Wakulla County tradition for many years, and just this year alone, he started as early as Labor Day to get it up and running.
"What can I say? Joy to the world. That's what we do," said Jerry Boler, dubbed by neighbors as Mr. Christmas.
Boler has been putting together this light display since 2012. Every year, he begins work on it in early November to have it ready for the Christmas season.
He designs, builds, and programs his whole display top-to-bottom, including his newest feature, a two-story roller coaster.
"So this coaster is the first of its kind that I know of in this country. It's going to do a figure-8 to get to the top to the bottom," said Boler.
He has been putting the coaster together since Labor Day. It's how I found out about his display. It wasn't hard to miss driving by.
On top of his work with over 100,000 lights, his display dances to music.
"So you start with one, and you program him, and then these guys right here, each one's an instrument, and they will all blink at different times, just like a beat in music. And then I can have my house do certain things and the whole yard," explained Boler.
He says one song used to take over 30 hours to design correctly, but he says the program design has gotten faster with advancing technology. Neighbors appreciate all the effort it takes to bring this to the neighborhood.
"His creativity, his imagination, and his ability to overcome a lot of mechanical problems that would stop a lot of people dead in their tracks makes it so successful," neighbor John Lawis said.
Mr. Christmas doesn't accept donations for his display because he just wants to bring joy.
I asked Boler, "With this display, you talked a bit about wanting to bring joy to people. Can you tell us a bit about why it’s important to have something like this in our community?"
To which he replied, "Actually had a man come by today, and he was just telling me how much joy I brought to his family and his kids, and the joy to me is watching it on their face. They see the joy on the kids when they come and see the lights. It's unbelievable."
"When will it be up for neighbors to enjoy?" I asked.
Mr. Christmas answered, "The day before Thanksgiving."
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