Batavia family hopes to spread love with light display
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Brett Foy's name.
It's crunchtime for the Foy household in Batavia.
For the last three weeks, Brett Foy and his youngest daughter, Sierra, 11, have been working to build a light and musical display at their house, 969 Ekman Drive, to help boost people's spirits and bring a little joy during the coronavirus pandemic.
The project is a labor of love for sure, and Foy wants to spread as much love as he can with the display that opened Saturday night.
"I'm doing all-new music, no Christmas music," said Foy, who took last week off from his job in information technology sales to work on the display. "This is going to a 12-minute show of happy songs. I want it to be meaningful - but also a little light."
The Foy home drew attention for a massive light display in the 2017-18 holiday season; Foy was too busy traveling for work to do it in 2018-19, but vowed to bring it back for the 2020-21 season.
That plan changed when the coronavirus pandemic exploded in early March. Foy plans to have the display on daily from 7 to 10 p.m. until people stop coming to see it. Drivers should tune their radios to 99.1 FM - and stay in their vehicles.
Sierra Foy enjoyed helping her dad. "I like it because it makes everyone else happy in the neighborhood," she said.
During a test run this week in Foy's front yard - parts of which are a maze of wires, plastic zip ties and control boxes - a video board showed "thank you" messages to first responders and health care workers. And, of course, a reminder to wash your hands.
Uplifting songs included portions of U2's "Beautiful Day," Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds," and the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
The project has given the family and neighborhood a little something to talk about and look forward to while they shelter in place.
"If there's a lot of people, he'll add songs, (to the display) knowing him," said Bret's wife, Heather Foy. "He can't help it. He loves it."