Answers To The Most Frequently Asked Questions for the Belardo Lights Display
Brandon Posing With His Favorite Orange Ceramic Lights
- The Belardo Lights display features approximately 100,000 lights total, over 9 miles of wire, 2,500 channels of computer automation, and many homemade decorations.
- Every wire is numbered and cut to the exact length needed for the display, then tracked in our master wiring book so we know where it goes.
- Planning, designing, and building the display is a year-round activity for our family.
- Once the display design is conceived, songs are chosen and edited, and display elements are built. Programming or sequencing the display music takes about 3-4 months.
- Display setup takes about 17 straight days in November before Thanksgiving, mainly due to the wire runs for each decoration.
- Teardown will take about 4 days right after Christmas, and then some time to organize and put away.
- We do this as a Labor of Love for our family and a gift to the community; we're hoping to make lifetime memories for our family and yours.
- If the lights were all on at the same time, it would take about 9,000 watts to power them. This is less than half as much as previous years since we've converted to mostly LED lights.
- We use specialized electronic controllers and software from Light-o-Rama to animate the lights and decorations.
- The music used in the display is synchronized with the lights using over 2,500 separate channels, with wires going to every decoration (and some decorations have multiple wires).
- The display music is broadcast on a low-powered FM transmitter from the garage on FM 106.1. The signal goes a couple of houses in each direction so people can listen in their cars when viewing the display.
- For every minute of music in the display, it takes anywhere from 6-10 hours to program the lights, depending on the complexity of the music.
- Many of the display decorations are home-made.
- Santa Claus in the window appears all evening during the season and is a big hit with the kids. He looks very real, doesn't he? Santa generates the most questions from our visitors and is projected from a DVD to a screen mounted 12 inches behind the window.
- This year, like in the past, we're raising funds for the Stein Education Center in Mission Valley. They help families and kids with Autism and other disabilities. There is a donation box at the display, and QR codes are also on display at the mailbox if you'd like to donate electronically. Thanks so much for your support...
- Thanks for making Belardo Lights part of your Holiday Tradition, and helping us "Dream Big!"...