If you’re looking to get into the holiday spirit and find that Dyker Heights isn’t enough holiday lights for you, how about a quick drive to Union Vale, New York to see the world-record holder for the most lights on a residential property? Home owners Timothy and Grace Gay have been holding the world record since 2014!
This year’s holiday display features 720,420 lights set to a soundtrack that onlookers can connect to via local radio frequency. According to the Gays, the entire display takes three months of setup and uses 40 miles of lights, plus eight miles of extension cords.
“It started just very simple with just 600 lights on the two trees by the front steps,” said Tim Gay. “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.”
The spectacle now draws around 60,000 visitors every season. When the light display first began gaining a lot of traffic, the Gays decided to put it to good use by inviting charity visitors. Over the past 30 years, they’ve collected more than $665,000, majority in donations to children’s organizations.
Interested in more light shows and displays? Check out Astra Lumina or Winter Lantern Festival.