This LaGrangeville, NY, family’s massive holiday light display holds the Guinness World Record for a private home. Definitely worth a post-sunset trip, no?
By Audrey Chamberlin
Christmas evokes several warm memories for me—early morning presents, late night hot cocoa and of course, extravagant decorations. It always reminds me of the light show my parents used to drive my brother and me to see back in Chicago where I grew up.
They’d tune the radio to a Christmas station that was synchronized with the light show as the two of us in the back seat stared up in awe at the glimmering displays. We’d try our best to find all the hidden snowmen and, at the end, Santa would give us each a candy cane. That display hasn’t been active for many years, but the magic lives on in LaGrangeville, NY, at the house of The Gay Family.
Tim Gay, the mind behind the extravagant display, saw in 2005 a video of a similar display to the one I’d seen as a child—and it inspired him to set up his own light show. The family already had a tradition of lights in their yard for their three children, but as the family grew older, so did their individual contributions to the lightshow, eventually swelling into a Guinness World Record-breaking spectacle that spreads joy throughout their entire neighborhood. Tim and his wife, Grace, both have engineering backgrounds and they passed that love on to their children, who return to LaGrangeville every year in November to help set up the lights.
“It’s provided a reason for us to spend much time together in the fall, and, as a father, I’m very thankful for that,” Tim says. “Our family feels blessed that we found a way to bring joy to others and help fund many worthy charitable causes in our community.”
The family has refused to accept any money for their contributions to the neighborhood. Instead, for the last several years, they’ve partnered with their local fire department, using the lightshow as a fundraiser. At last count, they’d raised more than $700,000 since 2012. The lights will return this year—with a whopping light count of 745,994—on November 28. Visitors are free to drive along the property from 4:45pm on, though closing times vary by night: Sunday through Thursday the lights turn off at 9:30pm, and on Friday and Saturday they turn off at 10:30pm. They’re decommissioned for the year on December 28.
Find the “ERDAJT” Christmas Display (an anagram of Tim & Grace’s children’s initials) in the town of Union Vale at 8 Patrick Drive, LaGrangeville, NY, 12540 and find more information at erdajt.com.
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