For residents disappointed they won’t be able to enjoy Clearwater Lights synchronized-to-music display this year, another area couple has stepped up to help fill in the void.
Clear Lake residents Chad Koren and Kari Mechtel were so inspired after watching the Clearwater Lights show in 2015 they decided to look into how it was done. After researching the programming end of things, the couple made the decision to try it for themselves. They had no idea at the time how many of their weekends the project was going to consume.
In the past Koren and Mechtel had only strung lights on their porch railing for Christmas, so they had a lot to learn. Luckily Koren’s parents used to go all out decorating their trees when he was young, so he knew how to hang lights so they looked good.
The couple spent around $1,000 to get everything they needed for their first show, including just over 6,000 twinkling lights and enough extension cord to reach from the top of the Empire State Building to the ground plus another New York City block.
Koren taught himself how to use the program they purchased to create their light show and spent countless hours programming the lights to the music. The display was ready to go by the 2016 holiday season, and they had a great time watching all the cars that stopped to enjoy their show.
Even so, the couple were worried about what their electric bill was going to look like. However, one night they came home to a handwritten note from the daughter of one of their neighbors that said, “Thank you for the lights. My friends and I sat outside with a radio and listened for hours.”
After Mechtel read the note to him, Koren told her, “Whatever the bill is, that note is so worth the expense.”
This year when the fall season rolled around Koren and Mechtel weighed their options, trying to decide if they wanted to do the lights again due to all the hours it took to put them up, run the extension cords and program all the sequences.
“When we heard Clearwater Lights wasn’t able to do their show this year we decided we had to do it,” said Mechtel. “Because where else would the locals go to see lights in motion?”
They purchased over 3,000 more twinkling lights, bringing their total to 9,126, and added hundreds of feet of extension cord to accommodate them. They began setting everything up right after Halloween.
“The process is painful, but come the day after Thanksgiving and the lights turn on I can breathe,” said Koren.
“Chad has spent so much time on everything, he deserves all of the credit,” said Mechtel. “Without him none of this would be possible.”
This year the couple has added a donation box to their display; all money raised will be donated to the Clear Lake Fire Depart. Both Koren and Mechtel are Clear Lake firefighters.
“We were so exhausted after putting up all the lights this year that we warned our family next year we would need all hands on deck,” said Mechtel. “Along with our family we would like to thank our neighbors. They’re the ones who have to look at blinking lights every night from now until Christmas.”
The couple plans on continuing to expand their light show. Next year they want to add another light channel box, which will allow them to have 32 different sequences. This year they have 16.
“When we begin the whole process we sometimes don’t see eye to eye,” said Mechtel. “But at the end we always come together as a family and are proud of our accomplishments.”
Koren and Mechtel’s synchronized-to-music light display can be seen at 8166 Hunter Lake Drive in Clear Lake. The show runs every night from 5 to 10 p.m. through Christmas day. The channel for the music the lights are synchronized to is 95.1 FM.
