PRESTON – For 50 years the Hollingsworth family had plywood cut outs of cartoon characters lit by spotlights in their front yard. Then life got busy and the kids who were always helping grew up and moved away.
Jeff and Lee Hollingsworth have now resurrected their Christmas Light show. They did it for 25 years and Jeff’s father did it for 25 years before that.
For all those years cars loaded with people would drive through the property at 1585 N State St. in Preston and gander at the magic of finding uplifting scenes lit by spotlights. Then it stopped and new chapter has just begun.
Now, in December of 2022 with 19 new displays and LED lights and updated Disney and other Christmas characters, the fun has started again.
“I gave into peer pressure this year,” Jeff said. “Mostly it was my kids pressuring me into doing it again.”
The pressures of church service, farming and running businesses has lessened just a bit so the Hollingsworth tradition is back.
“We have about a third of what we had before we stopped,” he said. “We’ll try and add some in the coming years.”
The family stopped putting out their show eight years ago because their kids got married and moved away he had no help. But the kids are starting to return with grandchildren, and they wanted to share the experience they had growing up. It was an expensive activity and the power bill was always a challenge.
“We gave all of the old displays away,” he said. “So, I had to make new ones. You can’t believe the cost of plywood these days.”
The fresh paint on the new displays are more brilliant and are a little splashier than the past ones. He said its fun to watch the children looking out of the car windows again and spot the characters.
Hollingsworth projects the images on the plywood traces them, cuts them out and paints them. Hollingsworth said they used the heated green houses at Edwards Floral to paint the displays.
“I had a sister and a couple brothers help this year,” he said. “Without their help we would never have got it done in time.”
After the Festival of Lights Parade the cars were lined up for a quarter of a mile with people trying to see the displays.
He has a donation box. In year’s past, the money was used to help pay the power bill. This year he plans to use the money for something else.
“The money we collect this year will go to some charity or a family having a rough time,” he said. “There are a lot of people hurting this time of year.”
One thing about having an attraction during the holidays is Jeff and Lee are stuck; they can’t go anywhere.
“We can’t go anywhere because we have to be here to tend the lights,” Jeff’s wife said. “Some of our kids don’t live close and we can’t go see them because of the lighted displays.”
The Hollingsworth family is hoping people will enjoy it as much as they have in the past. For Franklin County it is another Christmas tradition that helps get people into the Spirit of the holidays.
Thank you Jeff and lee
Does anyone know the address for this? My family and I would love to drive up to see it.