FAQ

Tune your car radio to 94.5 FM once you are parked in view of the display. The lights are synchronized to the music.

Yes, it is free to watch. Donations are welcome and go to Riley Children's Foundation and to building next year's display. See the Donate page for details.

Show hours and the best places to watch are on the Directions page. While the show is on, the banner at the top of this site shows tonight's start time and the song that is playing.

Water and electricity don't mix, so the show will likely be canceled if it is actively raining, or if it rained heavily the morning of or the night before. Cancellations appear in the banner at the top of this site, so check there before you head over.

Yes, but there are no outdoor speakers, so you will need a radio tuned to 94.5 FM. Please be kind to the neighbors' property and keep the noise down.

Before school lets out for winter break is the best time to see the show. Christmas Eve is the busiest night of the season.

I program the show in xLights and play it from a Raspberry Pi running Falcon Player (FPP), using Light-O-Rama and Falcon controllers. The Pi tells the lights when to turn on and off, and an FM transmitter plays the music through your car radio. Network cables carry the show out to the yard, where a controller with 16 outlets powers the lights.

I'm Josh Robison, a PFW graduate with a BS in Computer Engineering Technology, an AS in Electrical Engineering Technology, and a minor in Computer Science. I currently work as a Test Engineer at Ultra Maritime. The display started with my dad, Matt Robison, and I have since taken it over. I now design and program the show on my own, and Trevor Grossman helps me put it up. It's how I share my passion for electricity and lighting and give back to the community.

Around $65 for the month, which surprises most people. Nearly everything is LED (the concert lights on the roof are the exception), and because the lights are synchronized to music they are only on about a quarter of the time. In December you can follow the real power bill on the homepage.

I start in October, and the lights that are already up double as the Halloween show. Each season takes over 500 hours of planning, designing, programming, and setting up.

Most are store-bought lights, Menard's Enchanted Forest 70ct LED, and they don't need to be special because the controller they plug into handles the synchronization. The rest are RGB pixels ordered in bulk from an overseas manufacturer. I can control the color of those individually through the software.

In my garage, attic, and basement. The lights are wound onto custom wooden spools and the rest lives in bins, with some of the larger pieces hung on the garage and attic walls.