NORTON SHORES, Mich.- Driving through Heather Court in Spring Lake, or rather waiting in line for hours to see a fabulous 14 house light display set to music, is something that West Michigan folks won’t be doing for the first time in many years.
“It all started 7 years ago on a $5 bet.” Brad Boyink said, “What happened is, I got one of the viral clips of Carson Williams house in Ohio that ended up on the Bud Light commercial. I had several employees look at it, they thought it was fake, I thought it was real , so I researched it, won the bet, and from that point I was hooked.”
Boyink is the master mind behind Holiday Road Show, as its known, but had to face the challenges of moving it indoors this year.
“The rumor going around is that the neighbors chased me out of the neighborhood with pitch forks. I’m here to tell you that it’s not true; what happened is I sold my house in late March, moved out to Lake Michigan, it was one of those cases, right price, right house.” Boyink added.
He searched for months to find the next, best outdoor spot for the display. “Everyone loves the show, no one particularly wanted it in their neighborhood.” he added. “That’s when I came up with the idea of let’s go inside, let’s take inspiration from Dr. Seuss, let’s build all of these really cool funky building’s inside of it.”
Boyink finally settled on an empty location inside of the The Pointes Shopping Center, 1072 E Sternberg Rd, Norton Shores, Michigan.
“We are 100 percent LED which means we use 98 percent less electric than your standard Christmas lighting does. ” Brad explained. “We won’t even use $100 worth of electric for the entire run of this show. we are using less electric than four microwave ovens.”
The displays are outlined with pixel lights, which are individually hooked up to a computer. It takes four Windows based systems to operate it, plus lighting control computers, meaning, there’s roughly 30 computer systems making it all happen. Some of the lighting display panels are exactly what you would see at your favorite concert. Boyink stopped keeping track of how much money he has put into the display because its his hobby and it goes to charity.
He has raised roughly $230,000 for charities over the past six years and now partners with the Special Olympics. Brad will stay on as the creative director for the next three years, but eventually hand it off. This year, if you donate $10, you will receive a Holiday Road Show t-shirt that flashes to the beat of any music.
His hope in the future, is to open up a Halloween light display, too.
Here are the times for the display:
Tuesday-Thursday 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Friday 6:00 PM -10:00 PM
Saturday 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM & 6:00 PM -10:00 PM
Sunday 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM & 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Christmas Eve 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM & 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Christmas Day 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The show runs every 20 minutes indoors. To get your show tickets/passes please go to the store front with the flashing candy canes at The Pointes Shopping Center.
