Nictaux Holiday Lights

A few Christmas lights really brighten up a neighbourhood. So what do 28,000 lights do?

The answer is an hour and a half away from Halifax, through long stretches of dark roads, in tiny Nictaux, Annapolis County.

Mario Larose’s hobby isn’t too unusual, considering the time of year. But months ago, when Larose went out on his green lawn to start preparing his own version of a Christmas light display, he really stuck out in his little cul-de-sac.

"When I moved there, I had the lights, so I said, ‘Let’s do something special,’ " said Larose, who moved to Nova Scotia from Winnipeg in 2009.

It’s not just about the thousands of LED lights that Larose has collected over the years. The lights are wound around metal stars, trees and other shapes set up on his lawn, house and garage. They spread over two neighbours’ properties, too, creating a 360-degree lightscape.

Most spellbinding of all, they blink, flash and make glittery patterns in time to a soundtrack of upbeat Christmas music.

The lights were painstakingly hand-choreographed by Larose and his wife, Mireille Jean, using six wireless controllers. It took the couple all of November to program the songs. Local radio station K-Rock in Kentville is broadcasting the musical loop so viewers can watch from their cars.

In Nova Scotia, Larose has found an audience that appreciates what he tried to do for years in Winnipeg, where he only had one measly wireless controller.

His first year in Nictaux, Larose put up most of his display and then the family had to leave town suddenly to take care of a sick relative. Though they couldn’t enjoy it, they left the light display on in their absence — it was set to start each night with a timer.

"When I got back, my neighbour said, ‘Mario, you should have put a donation box there. There were so many people there,’ " he recalled.

Larose, a military aviation technician who is originally from Trois-Rivieres, Que., took his neighbour’s advice. Last year, the family raised $6,400 for the Children’s Wish Foundation.

This year, they’re trying to collect funds for a water park in Middleton for local children, a drive organized by the local Rotary club.

The Middleton Rona, Home Hardware and ReMax are the show’s major sponsors this year. Together they have nearly doubled Larose’s supply of lights, turning the show into a community affair.

Rona is also building a bigger donation box to replace the one Larose has now, which turned out to be too small for the nightly offerings.

Rotary club volunteers stand on the street every night greeting spectators. Today, starting at 5:30 p.m., the local fire department will shut off the street for a light-watching block party, to which all are welcome. Tim Hortons is providing free Timbits, and there will be a Santa and Mrs. Claus, some elves and hot chocolate.

The Rotary club is expecting about 500 people over the course of the evening.

Walter Illsley, a Rona employee, has donated about 60 hours of his time building some of the metalwork needed for the show, starting just after Thanksgiving. He said Larose’s enthusiasm is infectious.

"This is his passion; this is his hobby. This is what he does."

To the skeptical, the show might seem a bit over the top.

Larose has spent $10,000 of his own money buying lights, while local businesses have put in another $5,000 to $10,000, he said.

However, because they’re LED lights and only blink for a few hours a night, they only cost him about $125 extra in power per month, he said. And he insists that every penny, and every second of preparation, is worth it.

"When you see the smile of the kids, I’m telling you, my salary’s there."

His next-door neighbour Keith Gullage agrees. This year, he and his wife gave Larose permission to integrate the Gullage property into his programming.

"I was actually not a big outdoor Christmas decorations person," Gullage said.

Now, he has about four full-size metal trees on his lawn covered in wildly blinking lights, plus more on his house. And rumour has it that many more of the 12 houses on the cul-de-sac are going to give up their lawns for the cause next year.

"All you see is the people smiling," Gullage said of the light display. "You kind of get swept up in the whole thing.

"I will never keep up with the Joneses on this one. But I’ll play along — even the Grinch comes around."

Story by: Selena Ross

The Halifax Chronicle Herald

December 17, 2011