Yahoo News Profiles ‘Obsessed’ Hudson Valley Man
A Hudson Valley man's holiday passion was the topic of a Yahoo Lifestyle feature.
Every year Tim Gay and his family put on the world's largest light show. Their record-setting holiday display in Lagrangeville, NY has 608,000 lights that are all electronically timed and synced to music. It takes over 40 miles of wire to make all of this come together, something that Tim and his family set up starting in September every year.
After making the Guinness Book of World Records a few years ago, Tim has added even more lights to his display. Visitors from as far away as Australia have come just to witness this stunning light show. But for Tim, it's not all about showing off. He's raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities by inviting them to come and collect donations from the lines of cars waiting to check out the lights every weekend.
We happened to be at Tim's house a few weeks ago, collecting donations for the Children's Home of Poughkeepsie when Yahoo News dropped by to film a segment for their Lifestyle Channel.
After a few years of intense publicity, Tim now usually shies away from the spotlight. Lines of cars backed up for miles to see his display after word spread that he had broken the world record. Because of this, Tim has decided the attention just wasn't fair for his neighbors who have to put up with the crowds every year. Yahoo promised their segment wouldn't run until just before the display would be turned off for the season, so Tim agreed to give them access.
Have you seen the Gay family's light display in person? Let us know what you thought of the show on our Facebook page or in the comments section below.