By DANIEL HUMAN
SHARPSVILLE — A waist-high sign with a candy cane-wrapped post and mailbox stood in a Sharpsville front lawn.
Illuminated by the street light above it, they were the only things clearly visible out front of Michael Poulimas and Janet Crawford’s rural Tipton County log home.
On one side of the sign, which had “Sharpsville
lights.com: Benefiting We Care” written on it, were shadows of arches, vine-like strands hanging from poles, a few deer shapes and a two-story, wire evergreen tree.
Then the tree began to rhythmically pulse as a member of Christian children rock band Go Fish Guys spoke. As the man’s voice faded through speakers, a base line came in over short-wave radio station 99.1 FM, and lights ebbed up and down a pole on the far side of the yard, in-sync with the song “Christmas With a Capital C.”
A few minutes later, the yard exploded with color. At any given moment, between 200 and 40,000 lights flashed around the yard, all timed with the music.
It was the start of Poulimas and Crawford’s 30-minute Christmas light and music show, which began its second year on Saturday.
“Kokomo’s been real down. ... I guess it’s our goal to use this to make people feel good,” Poulimas said.
His muse was Chevy Chase.
The inspiration came after watching Chase’s “Clark Griswold” eccentrically electrify his house’s exterior with thousands of Christmas lights in National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation.”
Add in a TV commercial featuring a music and light display, then seeing one in-person in Lafayette, and the light clicked on over Poulimas’ head.
“I just sat in front of it for days and hours just trying to figure out how it was going to work,” he said about the home in Lafayette. “... Like anyone else, I enjoy music. And I just had the idea of running the lights and music together.”
Since Poulimas’ show had its debut last year, he has almost doubled the amount of lights, going from 50,000 to 90,000 this year. And he extended the show by about another 10 minutes.
The electrified display is an attempt to light up Sharpsville more vibrantly during the Christmas season, Poulimas said.
“This is Small Town U.S.A.,” he said. This is “so Sharpsville becomes a place people want to come to for Christmas.”
The display also serves as a fundraiser for We Care.
A donations box sits out front of the yard for people to drop in what they can give. Last year, the light show raised about $1,200 for the non-profit group.
It was almost an all-year project getting the show ready.
He began composing and building on last year’s light show on his computer last spring.
“You’ve got to kind of lay your display out and where your power’s got to go,” he said, adding on that he had a professional electrician take a look at the grid before he plugged it all in. “It’s kind of like writing music with lights.”
In addition to adding more Christmas songs, traditional and contemporary, Poulimas and Crawford threw in a tribute to the U.S. military that mirrors “’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
The salute can evoke some powerful emotions, Crawford said, but the entire show can do that.
“There was a lady here the other night who started crying because she got so into it,” she said.
For more information about the show and directions, visit www.sharpsvillelights.com.
• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at 765-454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.
If You Go
• What: Sharpsville light and music show
• When: 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday, until Dec. 30.
• Where: 422 Meridian St., Sharpsville
• Cost: Admission is free, but there is a donations box for We Care.
