Folsom Lights

Folsom Lights provides information and downloadable media for our Christmas light display.

Folsom Lights is now on Facebook! Become a Fan!

2012 Update

November 23rd: Our family moved this year up to Cameron Park. Therefore, the show will not be happening at the Folsom house. Also, because of the move and the short timespan to put a new show together that fits the new house, we will skip this year and try to be back in 2013. For your Folsom Lights "fix", please enjoy the videos below from our 2011 show. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2011 Update

January 1st: The last show has finished for the season. We raised $3394 (updated 1/2) for Make-A-Wish. Have a Happy New Year!

December 27th: Reached our $3000 goal tonight. Thank You!!!

December 23rd: Broke the $2000 mark tonight! I found a memory card in the donation house tonight. I expect it was dropped in accidentally. If this card is yours, let me know and I'll make sure it gets back to you!

December 23rd: 2011 videos are posted below. We will run from 5 to 11PM tonight. Same for Saturday (Christmas Eve) and Sunday (Christmas) nights. On Monday, we will go back to our 6 to 9:30 times until New Year's Eve.

December 21st: Star of Bethlehem 2.0 is installed and running. Ooooh... Pretty colors...

December 18th: Broke $1000 in Make-A-Wish donations this weekend! Thank You!!! The garage door LED grid also went online this weekend. Star of Bethlehem 2.0 construction is complete -- expect to debut shortly.

December 12th: Had a successful night playing the show with xlights. The shows are sequenced in Light-O-Rama and have bene played back with LOR, but with some new elements that LOR doesn't support (yet), we are trying some other programs that will playback the LOR files but map some of the LOR channels to non-LOR equipment. You'll see these in action over the next week. Stay tuned!

December 2nd: Was up until 3:30AM this morning working on the light flicker issue prevalent on opening night. Got this resolved, but the center tree strobes are still popping their fuse. Will have to troubleshoot this on Saturday. My stubborn #15 spot light was out again tonight. Otherwise, things are working great. The mini-trees -- a.k.a. "The Merkel Forest" since family friend, Joe Merkel, strung every light on them -- have been a big hit. Even my wife, who has probably become complacent with the show, gave a big "WOW!" when she saw them doing their color effects for the first time. $75 added to the Make-A-Wish collections. Snoopy is doing great with his collections!

December 1st: 51,439 lights in place. We go live tonight at 6PM!

November 29th: 36,000 lights up. Should be live on the 1st.

November 27th: 21,000 lights up. Targeting "live" night on the 1st. Will take about another week to work out the kinks.

November 23rd: We have been preparing lights for this year's show all month. The first lights started going up today. Due to the number of new lights and preparations involved, we are running a bit behind, so the show will not be goign live on Thanksgiving night and I'm doubtful it will be in full force by Friday night either. But with the weekend ahead, we should have everything running by early next week with a couple of changes finding their way in a little later. Updates will be posted here and on our facebook page.

We will be collecting for Make-A-Wish again this year. Last year we collected over two-thousand dollars and are hoping to do even better this year. Look for Snoopy's award-winning dog house to submit your donations.

You can make a payment for Make-A-Wish via PayPal if you like.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Jason and Stephanie Gayman

contact us at: jasongayman at sbcglobal d0t net

 

Times, Location, and Recommendations:

We will be up and running soon. Times are from 6:00pm to 9:30pm on weekdays and until 10pm on weekends. On Christmas and Christmas Eve, we run until 11pm.

We are at 131 Vierra Circle, Folsom, CA.

The show is transmitting this year on 104.7 FM.

Vierra Circle is a busy street so, out of courtesy of our neighbors and your safety, please do not block the road. It is a circle as well -- please don't turn around in people's driveways -- just continue down the street until it hits Glenn.

If you are watching the display from your car, please turn your headlights off (but leave your parking lights on). It's a lot easier to appreciate the lights when your car or face is not being illuminated by someone's headlights :)

If your engine is noisy, please turn it off as well as it is hard to hear the music from the house speakers over the sound of engines.

Finally, please do not honk your horn out of respect for our neighbors. If you want to express appreciation for our lights, feel free to leave a comment on any of our youtube videos (search for 'BrightChristmas') or Become a Fan of Folsom Lights on Facebook and leave a note on the wall.

Likewise, if you park on the opposite side of the street (facing up hill) everyone can have an unobstructed view.

The sidewalk in front of the house is a good place to stand and listen to the music -- be careful when crossing the road!

 

Thank you and Merry Christmas!!!

Jason and Stephanie Gayman

 

2011 Specs:

Light bulbs: 53,356 (99%+ LEDs), including 671 smart RGB pixel nodes
All-On current: 76 amps
All-On power: 9,120 watts
Show length: 15.3 minutes
Controller brand: Light-O-Rama, SanDevices
Software Used: LightShow Pro for video transitions, Light-O-Rama for sequence editing, xlights for scheduling and playback
Controller channels used: 2204
Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Movies are large and may not start right away -- please be patient while they download.

Our videos are also listed on YouTube under the user account BrightChristmas. Although YouTube has been aggressively pulling videos with music recently so they may not last. Ironic given that TSO requests that users post their videos on YouTube for TSO contests.

 

2011 Videos:

Wizards In Winter

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O Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night

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Faith Noel

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Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24

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2010 Specs:

Light bulbs: 37,058 (23,812 LEDs)
All-On current: 104 amps
All-On power: 12,440 watts
Show length: 15.3 minutes
Controller brand: Light-O-Rama
Controller channels used: 153
Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 

2009 Specs:

Identical to 2008 show

 

2008 Specs:

Light bulbs: 34,789
All-On current: 173 amps
All-On power: 20,706 watts
Show length: 15.3 minutes
Controller brand: Light-O-Rama
Controller channels used: 128
Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 

2008 Videos:

Wizards In Winter

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O Come All Ye Faithful / O Holy Night

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Faith Noel

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Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24

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2007 Specs:

Light bulbs: 30,000
All-On current: 158 amps
All-On power: 19,005 watts
Show length: 7.7 minutes
Average power during the show: 3,760 watts
Added electric bill over 40 days: $250
Controller brand: Light-O-Rama
Controller channels used: 102
Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra

 

2007 Videos:

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Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12 / 24

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Come All Ye Faithful / Holy Night

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