The small town of Union Vale in New York has been home to the Guinness Book of World Records holders for most lights on a residential property since 2014.
But the traffic that Timothy and Grace Gay’s 720,000 light-display is welcome to the area because the Christmas decorations also help the couple raise money for charity.
For the past three decades, the Gays have collected more than $665,000 in donations for various children’s charities.
Timothy Gay noted, “It does create traffic, obviously. So I weighed, ‘OK, raising money for childhood cancer and homeless children to putting up with a little traffic for a few nights.’”
“So, I kind of weigh towards the children,” he added.
The display spans 40 miles and includes timed music programmed to sync the lights with the sound. Timothy Gay stated that it takes the family three months to prepare but it has become an annual tradition.
Timothy Gay said, “It started just very simple with just 600 lights on the two trees by the front steps.”
“And one year, my brother suggested, ‘Put lights around the pond.’ Once we did that, that was actually the spark that ignited adding more lights each year,” he went on.
Everything is controlled by computer software that transmits a wireless signal to 108 different lighting controls and brings in tens of thousands of visitors from all over the nation.
“We have seen every license plate in our driveway with the exception of Hawaii,” Timothy Gay explained.
Each year, anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 people drive to the small town, which is only home to about 4,500.
When describing the traffic, Timothy Gay did admit that some of the residents complain about the traffic, but he noted, “We’re trying to get everybody [to] enjoy themselves.”
