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The Carter Family Christmas Show has grown to include 50,000 lights this year. Provided

In 2014, the Carter family’s first year putting up lights, there were 7,000 LED lights involved in the show. This year, there will be more than 50,000 LED lights in the show. Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

The Carter Christmas Lights Show is open now through Dec. 31. Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

A 16-foot-tall drummer boy adorns the side of the Carter house during one of the early shows in Albert Lea. Colleen Harrison/Albert Lea Tribune

Lily Carter stands with lights in front of the Carter’s home on Brookside Drive. Provided

Lilly and Annabell Carter prepare decorations for the lights show in October. Provided

The Carters’ oldest daughter, Amaris, works on a star that will be on display. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

Mike Carter wires up one of the lit signs at the house that is part of the show. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

The Carters begin putting up the lights each year in September. Sarah Stultz/Albert Lea Tribune

When Mike Carter grew up as a child in the Chicago suburbs, he remembers a massive Christmas lights display with 90,000 lights and a 40-foot-tall Christmas tree in the village where he lived.

The display left such a mark on him that when he moved to Minnesota for work in 2013 and noticed there was nothing equivalent in the area, he decided to start his own when he and his family lived in Austin.

“I want kids to be able to experience those same memories I had when I was a kid,” said Carter, who works in the IT profession and grew up with a father who was an electrician. “That’s ultimately the big inspiration.”

That first year of the display, which has come to be known as the Carter Christmas Lights Show, there were 7,000 lights, and it has grown steadily ever since.

Carter and his spouse, Freddy, moved to Albert Lea in 2018, continuing the tradition, and now in their 10th year, the Carter Christmas Lights Show will have 50,000 lights and has been named one of the top Christmas lights displays in the state, according to two websites.

Carter said they started by buying lights from places like Walmart, but after realizing they spent more time fixing the lights than putting them up, they started to dabble with what he called RGB LED lights, which are computerized and are much more durable and reliable.

But he still checks each and every light they use at the end of the season — what he said is probably his least favorite part of the process.

Carter said he likes to have everything taken down at the end of each season a few days after the new year, so that the lights and equipment are not sitting out through the winter. At first everything is put into piles, and after checking all the lights, by March everything is put away.

They start planning their shows at least a year ahead so that when April, May and June roll around, they can start ordering supplies. They buy directly from the manufacturer now because of the volume of the order, he said.

Typically the second to last or the last week in September they again start putting up the lights and decorations so that by Halloween everything is in place. Then Carter gets to work finalizing the computer configuration for the show and tweaking it so that it’s ready to go by the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year.

Carter said when they started, he wrote his own computer software for the lights show, but in 2022 they transitioned to new software that allowed them to do new effects, which also does much of the hard computer work.

Each year they try to add to the show — usually by lights or effects. This year, in addition to 5,000 new lights, they are also adding an ornament in an area where people can stand and take pictures, along with nine stars, two of which are in honor of family members who passed away. The lights on the tree in the front yard have also been upgraded to where they can now be lit up any color.

The Carter’s three adopted children, ages 11, 12 and 14, have also joined in on the fun and help with different parts as needed.

This year, for the 10th anniversary, the family will run two shows, which capture some of the highlights over the last decade.

“It’s really exciting,” Carter said. “It’s been really exciting that the community has supported us all of these years.”

While the show is an attraction for people from both within and outside of the community to view, it is also an opportunity to raise money for different nonprofits each year.

Since it began, the Carter Christmas Lights Show has raised almost $10,000 from spectators to go toward organizations such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Semcac’s Meals on Wheels, the Albert Lea Salvation Army, JDRF and The Children’s Center. One year the effort raised money to support the new downtown holiday decorations.

A donation box is at the corner of the property. As of press time, this year’s cause had not yet been determined.

Carter said they are excited to be a part of a tradition in the area that brings holiday cheer to those who visit it and that also allows them to serve various causes in the community. He thanked those who have contributed as well as their neighbors who have been supportive of the effort over the years.

The display is at 1905 Brookside Drive in Albert Lea. Viewers are asked to enter using Bayview Drive and circle around to watch the display.

Once the show starts, it is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and from 5 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

By the numbers

• The display uses about 6,500 feet of extension cords spanning to just shy of 1.25 miles.
• The drummer boy is 16 feet tall on the side of the house. It was designed and built by the Carters using corrugated plastic sheets and over 1,700 lights.
• Each singing tree has 750 lights, which is about double an average indoor Christmas tree.
• For safety and reliability, the display spans across six circuits on their main electrical panel
• On average it takes about 110 hours to set up the show each year.
• During a typical holiday season, the display runs almost 900 times.
— Statistics from carterxmas.com.

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