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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Remembering mom with dazzling display

By , Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter
Published:
5 Photos
Brandon Whitehead's Christmas light display includes a cross and cancer-awareness ribbon that are a tribute to his mother.
Brandon Whitehead's Christmas light display includes a cross and cancer-awareness ribbon that are a tribute to his mother. Photo Gallery

www.magicallightson63rdst.com

With tens of thousands of Christmas lights razzling up one side and dazzling down the other, it’s easy to overlook the simple symbols on the corner of Brandon Whitehead’s garage roof.

A cross and a cancer-awareness ribbon are outlined in clear, unblinking lights. They are a nod to his mother, Gayla Whitehead. She is the reason the Orchards resident created the light show a few years ago. She died of cancer on Dec. 10, 2013.

“My display came about because of my mom,” Whitehead said. “She did a lot of really nice things for people.”

They include some memorable Christmas good turns that Whitehead recalls on his website.

“I remember her making a payment on a stranger’s layaway account,” he wrote. The account “was about to close for a missed payment right before Christmas” and her generosity helped a family enjoy Christmas.

&#8226; <a href="http://www.magicallightson63rdst.com">www.magicallightson63rdst.com</a>

Whitehead, 40, started his holiday display in 2007, when his parents came up for Christmas.

“I decided to put lights up all over the place.”

He took a couple of years off and got back in the game this year.

His lights will be on display through Sunday at 16304 N.E. 63rd St., in the Pioneer Meadows Neighborhood. The lights are on from 5 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The display — “Magical Lights on 63rd Street” — includes lots of yule-tech resources that keep the eyes moving.

“I’m kind of an electronics guy,” Whitehead said. His displays are choreographed by the type of technology that controls light shows in rock concerts.

Whitehead figures he puts up 45,000 to 50,000 lights. They’re light-emitting diodes, which use a fraction of the energy of incandescent bulbs.

Because of all the moving patterns, “They are never all on at the same time,” he said. So, the Christmas display will add maybe $25 to his power bill.

Whitehead said he used to keep track of the extension cords that linked everything. He had more than a mile at one point — about 6,000 feet of cord.

Bonnie Wallace was across the street enjoying the display on a recent evening. It’s only fair, since some of the lights are set up in her family’s yard, on the east side of Whitehead’s house.

This is their fourth Christmas in the neighborhood, she said. When they bought the place, the Wallaces got a heads-up from the seller.

“We have to warn you about our neighbor,” they were told.

No worries.

“We love it,” said Wallace, who was accompanied by Trooper, their 4-year-old Great Dane. “We were so excited when he asked if he could use our front yard.”

Whitehead figures that his annual production is a commitment of at least three months.

“I start in October, working weekends,” he said. “Taking it down takes three weeks. It comes down a lot quicker than it goes up.”

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Columbian Science, Military & History Reporter