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12/21/2022 08:02 PMNeed a little holiday season cheer? Head toward Frederick Place in Clinton. Every night until Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, from 5 to 9 p.m. there will be a holiday light show at the home of Sam Reed that is sure to literally brighten anyone’s night.
Featuring thousands of individual lights and 50 individual display pieces, the show is the brainchild of Reed, a recent graduate of the Morgan School. The display is located on Frederick Place, a small road located off of Fairy Dell Road that ends in a cul-de-sac.
This year, attendees can get the full show by syncing their car radio up to station 94.1 which features a run of 10 winter or seasonally-themed songs that correspond to the light show. Attendees can also bring canned goods and nonperishable food items that will be donated to the food pantry.
Make no mistake about it though: this isn’t a Christmas show, it’s a Holiday show. Reed, who is Jewish, explained that one day when he was in middle school, he was watching an episode of the ABC show The Great American Light Fight, a show about different families competing to see who has the better light display. However, in watching the show, Reed realized that every display was Christmas-themed, something that irked him.
Even though multiple cultures and faiths have significant holidays during the winter months, Christmas usually takes center stage this time of year. As a result, Reed decided to make his display purposely non-religious and more of a celebration of the season as a whole.
Reed added a few extra songs this year, including a nod to a popular movie that is sure to be familiar to any parents with young kids.
“We added a few new songs this year. I always try and do something for the kids so we added a song from Encanto this year,” Reed said.
Also new this year are more digital light displays and television screens with images that can be synced up to the light display.
Reed started doing the annual display when he was in the 7th grade and it’s become even bigger as time has gone by. Through an early love of theater and production, Reed became interested in computer science and learned all the technical skills needed to make his production a go. Now a sophomore at Tufts University in Boston, Reed said he works throughout the year, finding new songs to fit the display, building new props, and coming up with new ideas for the display.
“This year we started setting up around Thanksgiving and had the whole thing up in a week. That’s a record,” Reed said with a laugh. This year the display went live on Dec. 10 and will run until Jan. 10.
While the festive lights have become a big hit over the years, Reed said the canned goods collection he’s running with it over the last two years has also become popular.
“Over the last two years we’ve donated over 1,500 pounds of food to the food pantry,” Reed proudly noted.