Christmas Spectacular on Main Street, our last show is...

[iamawino]

Our last show will be Friday January 2nd at 9pm.

We would like to invite all to our “Christmas Spectacular on Main Street” starting Friday December the 5th. The address is 128 North Main Street Cranbury NJ 08512.

Our shows will run on the hour starting at 6pm and the last at 9pm. Each show runs approximately 40 minutes with all the lights on after each show.

Our show this year is made up of over 15,000 lights, 8,000 feet of extension cords and 10 songs ranging from the traditional to the “whimsical” Christmas songs for the kids.

Besides the hope of giving much needed Joy to those in the area we have partnered up with the Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro this year to collect Non-Perishable food for those who may need help throughout the holiday. There will be a collection shelter located at the front of our property. For those who can help it would be greatly appreciated by many, there will be four area food banks that will benefit from the collection

FAQ’S and Etiquette

Display Etiquette

We are happy to have you as a guest to view our display. As we and our neighbors have to live here all season (and not just visit it once or twice), we are asking you to help us out by abiding by the following -- and please pass this information on to anyone you might refer our display to:

Please do not block the street, or any driveways.

Please keep all litter in your vehicle

Please do not use driveways to turn around.

If you'd like to stay and watch the show for awhile, that's great. Just make sure you pull off the road. If you have a particularly noisy vehicle, it would really help us keep neighborhood peace if you didn't idle it for long periods of time. If you can shut it off for awhile, that would make our neighbors happy.

Similarly, please avoid honking horns (whether to show appreciation, or other reasons). If you'd like to leave us feedback we'd love to hear from you at theplanet@planetofwine.com

FAQ’s

How many lights do you have?

There were about 10,000 lights for 2007 and for 2008 we will have around 15,000.

How much power does it take? How much is your electric bill?

90% of our lights are LED which provides a much brighter display while at the same time conserving energy.

Most of the time only 30% of the display is on because it is animated which helps conserve power. A lot of smaller displays actually use more power than mine, because they are always "ON". The power bill for 2007 was only about $80 more than normal.

Do you have your own Radio Station? How are you transmitting to my radio?

We use a small FM transmitter the broadcasts on 89.9 FM. It only goes a short distance which allows people to listen to the music within sight of our display.

How much time does it take?

We start our Christmas light display on November the 1st. I hire two people to help me put up the lights on the roof. The front of the house and the yard I do myself with the help of friends.

For the 2007 season I spent about 100 hours or so designing the display which most is spent in programming the lights to the music.

How do you control the lights?

Everything is controlled with software and hardware from Light-O-Rama. Our display for 2007 used 36 different channels, 2008 is 48. This allows us to control almost every element in our display between Red, White, and Green and blue. The stars you see on the right side of the property takes up 14 channels just for them. Because of how the display has to be set up, we use 8,000' of extension cords.

How much did this cost?

???

Good question, but you can’t put a price on the amount of joy our light display brings.

What do you do for a living, are you an electrician or in the theatrical business?

No, I am a Wine Consultant. I am also the founder of www.planetofwine.com I started this November 2007 with zero knowledge of how to do a display like this. I read a lot on the internet, and had a lot of trial and error but within 30 days had 10 songs up and running!

[Guest]

We loved the show last year, the kids were amazed. We will certainly drop off some food and spread the word.

[iamawino]

Thank you! Does anyone know of other ways to spread the word throughout Cranbury and the surrounding area?

The four food banks we are going to be collecting for are in dire need.

Thank you so much, Keith

[Guest]

What about Teddy's message board?

[iamawino]

What is the Teddy's message board? Thank you, Keith

[Guest]

Do you have a flyer? I can post it at work, a small biotech in the Cedarbrook complex. We are always looking for ways to help the community.

[Guest]

As soon as you walk in at Teddy's they have a corkboard.

[Guest]

call the cranbury press and make sure Lorraine Sedor puts it in her "Around Cranbury" column.

[Guest]

[Maria Prato-Gaines]

The address was provided at the end of the article.

[iamawino]

I do have a flier, how can I get it to you for the Cedarbrook complex?

The article in the Cranbury Press does mention the address, 128 North Main Street.

Thank you for the heads up with the bulletin board at Teddy's, I will get one up there.

[Guest]

We stopped by last night. Loved the shooting stars - great job!

[Guest]

You're house is amazing. If you don't mind my asking where did you ever find those snow flakes. There were absolutely fantastic and I'd love to add them to my house next year.

[Guest1447]

Great music and light show! Thanks for sharing!

[iamawino]

[iamawino]