Christmas light show extravaganza

Boy, I’ll tell ya, Greenlake resident Jeff Rodenburg has a thing about Christmas lights. Since 2001, Jeff has put on a nightly Christmas light show in front of his home that dazzles NE 57th Street throughout the month of December. He’s got a whopping 30,000 lights in all, with 19,000 of them used for a huge Christmas tree. The lights are synchronized to music that you can listen to on your car radio (or portable, if you walk), tuned to 102.1 FM.

Jeff’s house is just off of Latona on NE 57th Street. The Christmas light show is daily from 5:00pm to 11:00pm. And if you don’t want to take my word for how cool it is, then take it from my ten year-old son who says,” It’s way totally awesome!”

He’s got a great FAQ on his website, but I emailed some additional questions to him about his light show, which, he tells me, he begins planning every year in August!

MS: Is the music different every year? Is it based on a theme? How do you go about selecting the songs?

JR: The music for our show usually includes some songs from previous years along with a few new ones. Each year, some songs are retired and new ones are added. Our first year, we had 3 songs. This year, we have 8. We keep the ones that are popular with everyone, and try to add new ones to keep the show fun and fresh.

There’s no specific theme, but we do evaluate songs in light of a few key points:

• Is it family-friendly? Kids love our show, and I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed by the music we play.
• Is there a beat to it? Light synchronization, when done in conjunction with music, requires something of a beat.
• Is it fun? Nobody wants to listen to boring music.

Beyond that, I need to “see” how the lights would work in conjunction with the music. If I can’t see it, it can’t be synchronized. Our entire show is hand-synchronized. Any light in the display that is turned on, shut off, flickers or shimmers, fades or glows has been intentionally signaled to do so. So, it’s important that a song translates to lights.

And synchronization is a great amount of work. I’m more adept at it now than when I first started, but synchronizing a 2-minute song to our display still takes me roughly 4 hours — and that’s the first pass. There are revisions and viewing and feedback from the quality control team (wife and kids.) Because of the amount of time and effort involved, we put a lot of thought into song selection ahead of time.

MS: How do you broadcast to 102.1? (as in, is this short wave? You don’t need to muck with the FCC, do you?)

JR: We broadcast over low-power FM radio, which is a set of administrative rules set forth by the FCC. Under low-power FM rules, anyone can broadcast over an “open” frequency up to a certain distance from the origination point. The distance is rather short (a few hundred feet), which is why our station is scratchy from a few blocks away but clear when you’re on our block. The low-power FM rules permit us to broadcast without requiring permits or having to engage with the FCC — we simply need to follow the rules and be good FM community participants, which we most certainly aim to be.

MS: Do you have any new lights this year?

JR: We do have a few new lights this year — some flood lights that cast a colorful shadow behind Santa and Mrs. Claus. Lights are very strategic for our display, and we’re focused on the display being very neat. Anyone can add lights to every square inch available; we like to be thoughtful and consider how it adds to the display. We are considering some new lights next year, but nothing for sure at this point.

MS: You’ve had some problems in the past with storms taking down some of the lights. Any problems this year?

JR: The biggest trouble we’ve seen this year was the rain in the first part of the month. We’re built to deal with rain (it’s Seattle, after all) but the first two weeks of the month was that heavy mist. It created some trouble for our mega tree (the giant light tree), because water and electricity do not mix. Our entire display is plugged in to GFI-based outlets, so the lights will trip off if there’s a problem with water. The mist finds it’s way into the smallest of areas, and there are a lot of potential places where water could trip an outlet. So, we had to deal with that this year.

MS: How do your neighbors feel about your lights?

JR: Everyone is very supportive. In fact, this year we started the show a little later in the season than normal, and my neighbor across the street wondered what the holdup was, what’s the status, etc. It’s been well-wishes from everyone, and I’m very grateful they allow me to do this every year.

MS: You seem to know a lot about electrical! Do you have a background in electrical work or was this a “learn as you go?”

JR: I really don’t know that much about electricity, but I’ve learned some key aspects over time. I’m a software engineer, so I gravitate to wondering how systems work, which makes it easier to learn. Safety is a big consideration so I like to know what I’m dealing with.

Clark Griswold and the huge wad of daisy-chained electrical cords plugged into one outlet is quite different from our setup. Each light is plugged specifically into certain receptacles, and overall amperage load is evenly distributed across our power outlets. With a display this size, I really want nothing left to chance — it’s too difficult to manage and troubleshoot if something goes wrong.

““““““““““““

Jeff also tells me that he’s included some radio promos in between songs, like for the Green Lake Elementary Christmas Tree Sale fundraiser, and he’d like to continue promoting good community things around Wallingford and Green Lake. He closed his email with the following:

A lot of people like to tell me about lights they put up at their own house, with some sounding like they didn’t do “enough”. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not about “the lights in the display, it’s the display in the lights”. More does not necessarily mean better. If one strand of lights wrapped around a pole or hanging from a gutter give you some cheer, they’ve done their job. Besides, my house is a perfect place to see a *bunch* of lights.

Check out a video of the Christmas lightshow here (below or by clicking on this link). You can also find more information about the Green Lake Christmas Lights here: