Welcome to the home of Main Christmas in Elgin. We hope you will enjoy our visit. You will find information about our Christmas displays and some of the behind the scenes information about our current display and how we got to the point we are.

With the exception of 3 pieces in the total display (1 wire frame nativity and 2 animated deer) all the elements of the display have been designed and constructed by Forest.

This is our fourth year in Elgin. During the four years, we have moved from a totally static display the first year, our Mega Tree was animated in the second year. For the third year the Mega Tree was two colored with the addition of strobes. Other parts of the display have been rolled into the animation. The Mega Tree remains the centerpiece of the display. Animation is accomplished using Light-O-Rama (LOR) technology. Songs are programmed or sequenced using LOR Sequencing software. Each song takes approximately 4 to 8 hours per minute of music to sequence. 

The structure of the Mega Tree utilizes a kit purchased from Daryl Brown at Christmas Light Show. It takes 44 channels to drive the animation. It is divided into 12 slices of 600 clear mini lights, 600 red mini lights and 600 green mini lights for 36 of the channels. The star is 3D controlled by 3 channels. Two 2 channels are drive a cross that is mounted to the main mast of the of the tree. This year we added a nativity to the tree which requires 2 channels. The strobes use the final channel. The cross is made of 45 clear C9 bulbs and 45 transparent blue bulbs.  There is one 25ft extension cord running from the controller to the base of the tree for each of the 44 channels. In total, the Mega Tree is made up of over 22,700 lights

The perimeter elements are divided into 3 zones. Each zone contains North Pole lamps, red light garland, white light garland, red midi trees, white midi trees and strobes. This means 10 multiplug extension cords for each of the 3 zones. Ten 50 foot cords carry power from the controllers to each of the zones. With multiple cords for the static elements, there are a bit over 4,000 feet of cord to light the 31,000 lights used in the total display this year. 

Some of the other elements of the display are:

• 11ft North Pole animated with 8 bands of Red and 8 bands of white mini lights. The globe can change between red and white. A set of strobe lights finishes out this feature.

• 7 -- 18ft window garlands with red and white mini lights for the 7 windows across the front of the house. 

• 10 -- 3 1/2ft midi trees made of tomato cages wrapped with 300 clear mini lights

• 9 -- 3ft candy cane lamp post. Each lamp post is a piece of 4in PVC wrapped with red duct tape and topped with a 5in light globe.

• 6 -- Candy cane corner posts made from 4" perforated PVC drain pipe. The back side is cut from the pipe. Red duct tape creates the red candy stripes and clear and red translucent C7 bulbs fill the remaining drain holes.

• 4 -- Lollipops made by spiraling 2 red and white rope lights on a piece of 16in round plywood and mounted to a post.