Lighting Up Flint

01/06/2026

Hi everyone. January 5, very long last post for the season, then I'll leave you alone until November!

We had "our" Christmas these past couple of days, rested a little, then started taking the display down today. I've been reflecting on the show season, figured I'd wrap it up with a few tidbits.

Average daily FB page views, December 1-21: 349
Views December 22: 6,245
Views December 23: 113,327
Views December 24: 67,505
Average daily, December 25-31: 7,617
Total views as of January 1: 247,003 (11,959% increase)

Page followers in November: 50 (from 2024 show)
Today: 2,547

We're honored by everyone's response. Anything can go viral, I guess, but we never expected such a spike. Your enthusiasm and excitement, your moving personal stories, your expressions of thanks...all went far beyond anything we could have imagined. The one thing that will always stand foremost in my memory is finding, in our front yard on Viral Night, between 1,000 and 1,500 (best guess) perfectly well behaved, pleasant, friendly, patient, considerate people--actually liking something I'd done. I will always have a "video" in my head of all of you who thanked us as you drove out that night.

Having said that, we never want the show to be about us, but rather about you, and in the future, more about the good we can all do. I hope we can keep you all happy for as long as we can mount the show. I heard the word "magical" so many times. We'll try to keep it that way. We hope you all come see it again--but not all on the same night!

You might have seen a recent news piece about a family in the northeast who won an episode of Great Christmas Light Fight. Their viral crowds included several people who threatened them and/or their traffic volunteers with physical violence, apparently because traffic was gridlocked. I love, love, love that the response here was so universally positive.

Speaking of Light Fight, no, we have no intention of ever becoming involved. It strikes us as wrong to think about the Christmas celebration being any kind of competition, or being something deserving of a huge cash prize. Nor do we want such crowds that it stops being peaceful, fun, and pleasant for everyone. The focus belongs foremost on the birth of Christ. Not only did Charlie Brown dislike Christmas commercialism 60 years ago, not to mention Alfred at Macy's in 1947, but so did my mother! (She refused to buy an aluminum tree.)

Yes, a big prize would finance a lot of charitable giving, but if we all pitch in, we can still produce results. If the show averaged 100 guests per night over a 37-day season, and every person could directly donate $20 to local charities, it would total $74,000. That's an unrealistic expectation, but it might reach half that. It's worth some thought.

In the meantime, if you're so inclined, you might start the ball rolling by visiting one or more of these sites. They all need our help:
https://www.pathhelps.org/ways-to-give/
https://bethesdaclinic.org/
https://cuabtyler.org/donations/
https://www.easttexasfoodbank.org/?form=donatenow

Thanks again for all that *you* did for us. We hope your lives are filled with blessings this year.

Mr. and Mrs. Lightingupflint

01/02/2026

Hi everyone. Let’s not blow it on the last night. Please don’t back up the slope across the road. Park parallel, be aware of any smell or smoke…or wait for next year’s show. No fires!!!

“According to ESD 2 Fire Chief Eric Greaser, they have received roughly 40 calls today regarding wildfires, some of which are threatening structures. Greaser said most fires have been three to five acres; however, one reached about 30 acres…. Greaser also stated that most of the calls they have received regarding wildfires are in the southern part of Smith County, impacting areas including Whitehouse, Bullard, and Flint.”

12/29/2025

Just walked through the display. Nothing blew down last night. Traffic is tapering off, so if you're coming for roadside viewing, please parallel park rather than backing up the slope. Found another set of tire burnout ruts from last night. Let's not tear up the shoulder.

We enjoyed having time to speak with a few of you last night. Always a pleasure to visit with nice folks...really the nicest part of it for us. I'm trying to respond to salient comments left here, but I know I'm missing a lot. If there's a way to sort them chronologically, I haven't found it. It's pretty random. (I might be sort of an "expert" at some things, but never bothered with FB!) Here's to a happy and safe New Year's celebration, but more so, a great 2026 for all.

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12/29/2025

Chilly! More rain than I expected. I’m going to shut it down in a few minutes, maybe 7:00 or so. Anybody who stops in the meantime please PARALLEL PARK along the road. Let’s not gouge up the shoulder trying to back in. Thank you!

12/28/2025

Hey everybody. If you're thinking about coming to see the lights tonight, check here first once the wind has started to pick up. We had a big prop crumple up in the last wind, could happen again. I'll disable any part of the display that's damaged, might shut it all down early if it's just too windy. Winter's coming back!

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12/27/2025

Preaching to the choir here. More than 99.9999% of you are totally well-mannered people. There was no trash after Viral Night. It was amazing.

Last night someone left us this, of which the pic is only a fraction. Looks like it was all from the same car. I've avoided saying that we are not your mother. Well, we're not. Do I have to clean up the road shoulder in addition to spending all the time and money on the lights?

No need to remind me that this is to be expected, etc. We know. Mrs. Lightingupflint does her own personal adopt-a-road pickup every couple of weeks all year, carries in two or three big garbage bags full. It's actually pretty nasty stuff.

The grass is getting very dry again...three fires on the news in the last few days, so I'd prefer no one smokes.

Three notes about parking on said shoulder. (1) Keep a car-width distance from the east (US 69) side of the fire hydrant. There's a pretty big hole there and it's very loose sand. (2) If you're backing up the slope, lose momentum and start wheel spin, please don't pour on the gas and dig tire holes. I'm the one who gets to fix the landscaping next day. I'm sure it's the big rear wheel drive trucks and SUVs. Just back up far enough to clear the road, rather than trying to get up to the fence. If you're 4WD capable, maybe engage 4-HI for the maneuver. (3) More front fascia scrapes last night, almost all west of the hydrant. It'd help if you cross the low spot on a diagonal.

That shoulder is technically county easement, but it's also the edge of a very nice guy's property. Be gentle with it.
Thanks!

12/26/2025

Hi everyone. This has been my morning on Messenger:
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
Through January 1.
(ad nauseum)
Once again, please read what's already been posted any number of times BEFORE you impulsively fire off a question. Not to be discourteous, but I'm going to stop answering these because....
I've had a rash of pixel failures this year and it's getting worse; I spent 12 hours yesterday replacing strings. I didn't even quite keep up. Obviously the pixels aren't going to last as long as conventional wisdom reports. That's a bummer. Please be patient with flickering or strobing props. The spiral trees are next youngest...let's hope they don't avalanche next year.

"In case you didn't know," lights will run through January 1. Gate closed, street viewing only. Last night was still great, with a consistent number of watchers and no traffic trouble. We will have small groups of personal friends coming over the next few days. We'll let them in, but we can't let everybody in. You understand, I'm sure. Thank you all.

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12/25/2025

OK folks, nice job tonight! The first arrivals set a parking pattern, backing up the shoulder slope on the south side, facing across the road to the lights. The straight-in parking allowed quite a few cars, there were never more than three tied up in the road, and only one passerby vented a bit of delay irritation. The Citizen of the Day award goes to the fellow who shouted "SLOW DOWN" to an eastbound speeder.

Thanks to all for not backing over our mailbox! Do note that there is also a road sign toward the US 69 end of that area, and a fire hydrant in the Old Jville direction. I don't know why anybody paints a fire hydrant Invisible Black, but it is. It has some faded reflective tape. A county contract mower ran into it once, so it's leaning a good bit. If you back into it, I bet you're going to get a special car wash with a quicksand finish. Be careful about the fascia/air dam under the front of your car. I heard a few pavement scrapes during backing. After all, those are designed to drag on every parking stop. Remember that KLTV ran a piece yesterday about fire risk rising again. If you smell grass burning under a car, act quickly.

The night worked well enough that I was able to switch back to the regular playlist, so nobody had to sit through traffic timeout. I guess tomorrow's traffic will be light too. Maybe?

What's your prediction for Friday traffic? I don't know what to expect. We might have a group of church friends come out Friday evening. If you see us let them in, (1) don't rush the gate, and (2) don't be offended. We like you all, but we've liked these folks for decades. They get VIP treatment!

So Christmas Day is an hour away, it's time to light the Christ candle, and it's the "first day of Christmas." Get your partridge ready, truelove. I'll run lights the usual 5:30-10:00, again gate closed, roadside viewing. I'll start with the regular playlist and see how it goes. Be sure to applaud a lot, since we might be sitting behind the lights listening. 🙄 I have about four hours of pixel string repairs tomorrow, but hopefully I'll have all the missing teeth back in.

There's too much preparation and procurement needed to allow lots of cars inside again this season. I'll have to apologize again and state that it's "gate closed" for these last days. Enjoy those kids getting you up at 6:00 tomorrow. It gets pretty quiet as the years go by. Merry Christmas!

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12/24/2025

OK folks, here's the plan for Christmas Eve. Gate will remain closed, roadside viewing throttled as necessary to maintain sanity. I made up a new playlist that runs an hour and 22 minutes, repeating all evening. There are four groups of three songs apiece, each group running roughly 10 minutes, each a mix of classics and contemporary Christian. There will be a 10 minute silent "traffic clearing" sequence between groups. It will show a countdown. If that's still not enough, I may start a silent sequence that scrolls "Music coming soon...." If you see that, I'm waiting for traffic to moderate, even if it takes all night. Let's see how this works out. Maybe we can shorten the traffic clearance if it goes well. No promises yet. Music still on FM 105.9.

Please make way for incoming viewers so that everybody gets a chance to see something and we don't have to call in Star Fleet to restore order. If it's crazy, try again later. Please don't hog a spot through several groups. Two sets of videos are up on YouTube ; perhaps watch some of those in lieu of hanging around in the ditches all night. Honestly, there's not room for many cars along the road (keep out of the creeks!). Perhaps some can park on CR 150 and walk up to the south shoulder; just be super careful.

I've been all day dealing with this, so I haven't had time to repair the light strings that failed last night. Maybe tomorrow. Thanks for your amazing interest, patience and support.

Here are the playlist groups:
Carol of the Bells
Joy to the World
Rudolph
Traffic break

Sleigh Ride
Do You Hear
Frosty
Traffic break

Jingle Bells
Light of Christmas
Little Drummer Boy
Traffic break

Most Wonderful Time
Hark! the Herald
Noel
Traffic break

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12/24/2025

MAJOR CHANGES EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!!! Read this and please make sure your friends read it. >>> THE SUMMARY: the gate will be closed until we sort things out. Roadside viewing may be limited.

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12/23/2025

OK everybody, the viral infection has begun. I have to get offline now to start the daily testing for the show, but please help me out here. I don't have an office staff! I've spent the past hour answering the same two questions: location and showtimes. You'll find this information on the FB LUF front page and the "About" tab. If you scroll the posts back through time--there aren't that many--you'll find calendar schedule, daily showtimes, a post about searching Google and Apple Maps, the list of songs and length of playlist. It's all there. Forgive an old teacher for saying, "Do your research"! I'm likely to miss random replies to old posts, asking time and location. Mrs. Lightingupflint will arrive late this evening, so I plan to just run the automatic playlist until she's here. Thanks and Merry Christmas!

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12/23/2025

A few things today, long post, PLEASE read it all.... (1) WOW! I went to bed about 2 am seeing 251 light show followers. Checked a few minutes ago to find 1,400. I'm stunned. Thank you all! (2) I've had a few PM's. Today I have a ton of them. Please forgive if I haven't responded...I keep getting a FB error message telling me I can't message because of "regulatory changes in Europe." I find FB to be the most convoluted mess I've ever seen (worse than a 1040...probably by design, you think?). I'll try to find a solution, but my primary task now is to keep the pixels working; daily repairs. (3) Maybe this thing isn't exactly viral, but I'm thinking ahead about potential problems. If we suddenly have a traffic jam out here, I don't want things to get out of control. I don't want anyone to have a bad experience, either visitors or area residents. Note that Flint-Gresham VFD uses this road to get from Old Jacksonville to 69 south. Let's absolutely not hinder any emergency response. Busiest time has been between 6:30 and 8:30. Just in case, it's worth considering a visit before or after everyone's favorite time. Carpool, too. Other Christmas attractions initiate pauses to allow excessive traffic to clear. I'm going to reserve the right to do the same if it becomes a problem. Next, we can handle perhaps a dozen cars and 50-75 people on the premises at once, but not more. If you should see it's really busy, please be patient about getting in, or watch from the roadside. Mrs. Lightingupflint will beckon you in if we can handle it. Don't block the road! (4) If a herd of cars does materialize along the road, I again remind you to be conscious of the geography. Our gate is at the top of a little hill. There is a creek on either side. They both have steep dropoffs and soft soil. Don't--just don't!--try to park too close to either of them. (5) Some folks have expressed an interest in donating, or that we set up a tip jar. Bluntly, we don't want to be paid for this. If you're so inclined, let's put any donations where they're most needed. I hope you'll consider directing your generosity to Bethesda Clinic, PATH, Church Under a Bridge--Tyler, or East Texas Food Bank...and don't forget these organizations after the season. Amidst our plenty, let's take special care to help others. Thanks again, and Merry Christmas!

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