October 22nd – (Rig Up Begins) thru Oct 26th
This year we will be changing up the display due to the loss of a pine tree which was used to suspend a major portion of our display. With the loss of the tree we have moved the Mega Tree to the center of the right side of our front yard. This required setting a new foundation for the tree and all the supporting base rings. With 1200 lbs. of concrete set and the receiver sleeve encased on 5 ft. of concrete below ground we are ready to start adding items above ground. Three bases rings were installed for the Triple Mega along with the bottom section of the pole. There are three sections of pipe which make up our Mega Pole. The rest of the week was spent getting all our lights out of storage and testing strings. The red tape on the four 18 ft. columns had to be replaced and 22 short candy cane poles were cut to position over the base ring posts on the outer circle. The outside diamter of our 2012 Mega Tree is 24 ft. Washed off the window frames with the C-9 lights out of storage and tested bulbs before installation.
Saturday – October 27th thru Sunday October 28th
Installed the four columns with the Cosmic Ribbons on the corners of the house. Put up the frames with C-9 LED lights around the windows. Hung four snowflakes on the brick wall left side of house and two on right side. Removed the Gingerbread trim from storage and touched up, adding new lollipops. Installed C-9 quad string (RGBW) of LED lights along facia on left side of house to middle. Hung the curtain wall cable bundle and added the 17 ft. M-5 LED lights along the front wall of house every 8 inches. Hang the Gingerbread trim as we moved from left to right on the front of the house.
October 29th thru November 2nd
Added new M-5 Multi Colored LED lights to the Marty Fan. Tested the Candy Cane Poles with new white LED’s. Worked on the new collars for the Triple Mega. There will be three collars used to space out the three separate lighting elements which make up the Triple Mega. Due to the weight involved with number of strings and spacing we had some heavy duty collars fabricated from steel. These will be spaced out with chain at different heights. Friday the 50 ft. lift was picked up and work begin to add the three remaining snowflakes on the right side of house. Picked up 1/2″ conduit from warehouse to use on Spiral tree section of the Triple Mega.
Saturday & Sunday November 3-4
We call this Mega Tree weekend. Completed the C-9 Quad string across facia on right side, added the Mutli Curtain wall and Gingerbread utilizing the lift to get up to the high sections of roof line. Added the two remaining sections of the Mega Pole, added the Four Sides Star to top of pole and added the steel tension cables to hold the Mega Pole in place. These cables go from top of pole to the inner base ring which are all steel posts bolted to concrete footings. The cables are attached here. Added the crank mechanism and positioned the collars, cables, chains for Mega tree. Added the concentric rings for the Spiral Tree and conduit on 8 sides to support the spiral weaving. Installed the 24 double strings of Red and 24 double strings of Green C-6 LED strings and wrapped the spiral tree. These are 140 count each strand x 48, or 6,720 lights. This is the inner most tree of the Mega which we will call Tree 1. Then we added the 36 strings 100 Count M-5 multi colored LED lights. We will call this Tree 2. (another 3,600 lights). Tree 3 is the tallest tree and will have a 24 base diameter and stands 32 ft. high. This has 12 sections of 3 stranded, doubled C-6 LED lights in Blue and White colors. Each slice of each color has 420 lights, times 12 slices equals 5,040 lights of blue and white, or 10,080 lights. So total we have 20,400 lights in our Triple Mega. That’s before we add the strobes and Mega Balls, and some new star lights. A full weekend with the lift enabled the tree to almost be completed. Rain hit Saturday and shut us down for 2 hours of daylight which kept us from getting the mega balls and star lights installed.
November 5th – Nov 9th
Mount controllers for front yard. Dig new hole and set new steel sleeve in concrete for the Marty Fan Pole. The Marty Fan we have put up high on our display for last two years between the two pine trees is being relocated. The new home will be on a pole, left side of yard. Need to get this pole set and install fan during week and work on getting the mini trees into position on left side of yard.
November 10th-16th
Addeed Mega Balls and new Star lights inside of Mega. This took considerable time working from the ground to space out the lights between the Spiral tree and the outer multi tree, and white/blue tree. Added the Cosmic ribbons to the fan, Cosmic Ribbons to the arches. Positioned controllers for cosmic ribbons. Installed the 8 mini trees along sidewalk and three in front of arches. Move Nutcrackers to front and secure to ground. Add candy canes to sidewalk and begin wiring up lights to controllers on right side of house. Cable to mini trees and cabing to marty fan. Added the lights to the Candy Poles at base of mega tree and wired up. Wire controllers from right side from Mega tree. Had to get more wire for the runs from Mega tree to controllers. Over 1000 ft. just for the Mega Tree. Added lights for Nutcrackers and power to signage.
November 17th – Nov 21st.
Complete wiring to Mega tree, and all interior lights and test controllers. Test Mary Fan, and Pyramid Mini trees. Add wireless transmitters and test signals. Work on network issues and address changes to USB network adaptor. Trouble shoot neighbor controllers and assure that wireless signal strength reception is clear. Ran show and tested. Working well enough now to go ahead and build tunnel.
Nov 25th, Final Build day.
Built frame for tunnel. Ran cables to ground and secure from any movement. Install R/G/B/W C-6 lights and multi color icycle lights to arches. Wire up and test. We are done! Enjoy the show.
