Urbana man creates home holiday light display for kids, community

URBANA — Greg Livingston has been decorating his houses for Christmas for over 40 years. Every year, the display is more elaborate than the one before.

Livingston has spent the last two and half months transforming his new home at 428 Lafayette Avenue in Urbana into a destination for people and their families to take a break from the chaos of 2020 and enjoy a 50-minute holiday light display to music outside of his house.

He and his family previously lived in Mechanicsburg, where they also had a yearly display at their home.

RELATED: Ohio Christmas Tree Farm Association creates Operation Evergreen to support our troops

“This is me,” Livingston told News Center 7′s Jenna Lawson. “I go to extremes all the time with anything I do.”

The display plays on a loop, with shows at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. People can turn their radio station in their car to 95.1 FM to hear the accompanying music while watching the lights.

To put on this type of performance, Livingston has the technology and engineering down to a science. He’s invested hundreds of manpower hours making sure each individual light bulb is correctly placed into a computer sequence that coincides with the beats of the music -- a process in which one song can take weeks to complete.

Livingston said normally, big-time light displays take closer to a year to put together.

When asked why in the world he’d pursue a hobby that requires so much time and energy (while also working a full-time job) -- his explanation was simple: for the kids.

“As a kid, that was our tradition,” he said. “We went out. We went and looked at houses.”

HOMETOWN HOLIDAY SPIRIT: Logan County teen continues holiday toy drive despite COVID pandemic

He said looking out his window at kids poking their heads out of their parents’ car sunroof and dancing to holiday classics like ‘Up on the Housetop’ makes every minute he’s spent on the display worth it.

But the display isn’t just for kids. Adults can take a break from the chaos and controversy of 2020 and go back to a simpler time -- if only for 50 minutes.

“It brings people closer,” he said.

Livingston is already looking ahead to next year. He’s planning for two to three times more lights for his house (he currently has about 2400 hundred up) and has even gotten some positive feedback from his neighbors about getting in on the holiday spirit.

For more information on the display, check out Livingston Holiday Lights on Facebook.

Cox Media Group