Published: December 16, 2008 09:18 pm      

Christmas display drawing We Care donations

SHARPSVILLE — The small town of Sharpsville isn’t used to many tourists.

The few houses and a town hall, which are surrounded by farmland on all sides, usually aren’t much to see.

Yet, word of mouth has been sending some out-of-towners straight to the heart of town as a line of cars begins to form in front of 422 W. Meridian St.

It’s the home of Mike Poulimas, whose Christmas lights display is drawing considerable attention.

The show began shortly after Thanksgiving and will continue through Dec. 30. The show runs from 6 to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 6 to 11 p.m. on weekends, he said. The house is located in Sharpsville, three miles south of Ind. 26.

Fifty thousand lights cover his front yard in the form of Christmas trees, penguins, igloos, snow flakes and arches. Light strands hang from his house, surround the trees and bushes in his yard and line the driveway.

It’s not the vibrant lights that draw the tourists, it’s the combination of the lights playing in almost perfect synchronization to the songs by the Transiberian Orchestra. The combination was created by Poulimas in a nearly six-month endeavor.

“It’s kind of like writing music but using lights,” he said.

With a click of the mouse, he turns on the first song. A strand of red lights comes on. The next beat sends the blue lights pulsing, circling the penguins and the igloo. White lights make snowflakes fall while red, green, blue and white lights make the flag pole tree appear as though it were spinning.

It’s a 20-minute show, playing songs like “A Christmas Canon,” “Good King Joy, ” “A Mad Russian Christmas” and “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo.”

Onlookers can listen to the music from their vehicles by tuning to 99.1 FM. The first part of the show is a two-minute introduction, where Poulimas tells his audience the real reason he put up six months in time and a great deal of money to fund this project.

“The idea is pay it forward,” he said.

He’s asking for free-will donations to provide to We Care, a charitable organization that helps several local organizations provide Christmas for families in need.

“When people come here they walk away feeling good,” he said. “In turn, people are up to giving a little bit of themselves to We Care.”

His goal is to raise at least $1,000 to donate.

The light synchronization is the computer specialist’s way of using his skills to give back to the community.

“I’ve been wanting to do it for a couple years,” he said.

Poulimas said he got the idea from movies like Chevy Chase’s “Christmas Vacation” and Danny DeVito’s “Deck the Halls.”

“I thought that was so cool,” he said.

With the help of some friends who’ve also turned their homes into musical light shows, Poulimas learned what he had to do. He said it’s all done by turning on pixels, set to one-10th of a second. He consulted an electrician before installing 3,000 feet of electrical cables.

He began constructing his project in August.

“People thought I was crazy,” he laughed.