Hillsboro residents Meaghan and Brandon Young have taken the tradition of decorating with lights around the holiday season to new heights — and to social media — with their awe-inducing display in the 600 block of West Main Street that they have dubbed “Illumination on Main”.
Meaghan Young said of the lighted extravaganza that blends traditional static lights with timed animated lighting sequences in vivid hues, that they have been, “decorating at the current scale for around six years.” She said that the preparation to get everything ready each year takes more than a week of work.
“We put most of the lights up in about a week,” Meaghan Young explained, “and then running the power and music takes an additional few days. The music sequences can take a few hours or weeks to complete.”
In an Internet age, the time-honored tradition of elaborate seasonal light displays has also made its way to social media, as the Youngs have created a Facebook page for Illumination on Main.
“We decided to create the Facebook page to share information like the times the lights will be on,” Meaghan Young said. She said they post updates about new additions to the decorations “in recent years” such as “our Santa mailbox.”
The Santa mailbox, according to the Illumination on Main Facebook page, can accept actual correspondence from children to Santa that the Youngs will forward to Santa on the children’s behalf. Letters must be placed in the mailbox by Dec. 17 in order to make the trip to Santa, according to the Facebook page.
For more information about Illumination on Main, access the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LightsOnMainSt.
Juliane Cartaino is a stringer for The Times-Gazette.
