Daily Herald Holiday Lights Contest, Lake County Editor's Choice Winner
Five Editor's Choice winners were selected in the Daily Herald Holiday Lights Contest, plus an overall winner as voted on by readers. This is the Q&A with the Lake County winner Ken Kolman of Hainesville.
Q. How long have you been decorating your house like this?
A. I've been decorating my house like this for about 7 years. Everything is handmade, I've soldered the wires together myself and put all the controllers together.
Q. What inspired you to go all out with your decorations?
A. I like to go all out and like give holiday cheer to everybody. It brightens everybody's moods. Everybody that comes by say that they look forward to it every year. They have a great time coming out to look at the lights and listening to the music.
Q. How many hours does it take to put up the display?
A. I don't know about hours. It takes me up to four weeks to get everything really up there and straightened out and running.
Q. How many strings of lights are involved?
A. Right now, I'm up to 75,000 lights. They are all RGB pixels.
Q. How much does your electric bill spike in December?
A. Actually, I don't look at the electric bill but it is not all that much because of all the LEDs. Besides, my wife, Dawn, looks at the bill not me. She hasn't told me to stop yet.
Q. What do your neighbors think of your display?
A. My neighbors love it. The neighbors come by and enjoy the show and they don't mind the little bit of traffic in the neighborhood.