This Massive Christmas Light Display is Open for Holiday Season

By AMIE SCHAENZER (Patch Staff) Photo credit: Larsen’s Light Show website

Batavia native Brian Larsen will once again be sharing the holiday spirit with the area with his massive Christmas light display, up and running since Thanksgiving evening at his family’s home in Elburn.

The famous light show is in its ninth year and is probably best known for its 2013 win on ABC’s reality TV show The Great Christmas Light Fight. Larsen uses over a million lights, 20,000 feet of extension cord and pays an estimated $450 a month more in utility costs during the holiday season.

The lights will be up for the public to view at 42W891 Beith Road in Elburn starting from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. every night from Thanksgiving through Jan. 1.

Set up of the display is a massive undertaking each year for Larsen, who also owns County Wide Landscaping in Elburn and is the father of three children. Larsen takes the lights down each spring and starts putting them back up again for the holiday season in August.

He was working on the finishing touches Thanksgiving week.

“I feel good about it once it’s done,” Larsen said Tuesday. “I am working on some touch-up stuff now and it should be all done by tomorrow afternoon.”

The Larsen’s Light Show draws visitors from as far away as Wisconsin, southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. The light show is programmed with Christmas music, which visitors can tune into on 88.5 FM.

In the end, Larsen said his display is about sharing family values and the Christmas spirit. Here is what he writes on his website:

I do this because in society today we truly are losing are family values or being with family. When I was little the memories my family gave me from our holidays were so memorable it’s the reason I do this! We used to pile in my grandpa’s motor home and go caroling on the weekend, and the next weekend we would go look at Christmas displays all around Chicagoland. We would truly spend 6-7 hours, and create some of the greatest memories of my life! I want others to have those memories, and this light show gives families the chance to create a fun evening and tradition they can pass down to their kids, and hopefully this show will create the same memories I had, and that I’m passing on to my kids.

For more information, visit the Larsen Light Show website.