Looking for great Christmas lights in Columbia? This Facebook group has you covered
Mel Torme croons poetic, dedicating his Christmas song to "kids from 1 to 92." Few seasonal phenomena draw out the child inside people of all ages like Christmas lights.
Whether a simple strand of warm, white bulbs or a Clark Griswold-level display of exterior illumination, holiday lights pierce the December dark, shining a welcome from someone else's neighborhood or your own.
Columbia firefighter Dan Berlemann has felt at home within that glow since childhood. Growing up, "there wasn't an inch of my house that wasn't covered with Christmas decorations that time of year," he said.
His love for lights outpaces any other Christmas trapping and, six years ago, Berlemann supplied an answer to his own question: Where could he see the best Christmas lights in Columbia?
Berlemann started a Facebook group called the Columbia Missouri Christmas Lights Locator, or The Locator, as he affectionally refers to it. Since its launch, the group has swelled to nearly 12,000 members, providing a hub for Christmas light-watching and other holiday-related events.
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The magic of discovery
An early adopter of social media, and Facebook groups more specifically, Berlemann initially saw the Locator as a simple tool to help illuminate the season, he said.
The group started with about 1500 members in its first year, and the common Christmas knowledge propelled Berlemann and his family out and into their car, driving around town to catch lights they once would have missed, he said.
The next year, after Thanksgiving, the group swelled to more than 5,000 people, Berlemann's phone ringing like Christmas bells with all the notifications.
Moderating the group has become more manageable, with Berlemann giving himself less work to do. Now, new members are automatically approved but he still checks every post to cut down on possible spam.
Not only do members post images of Christmas lights — their own, and others they find impressive — but they share notices of trolley rides, holiday markets, parades and plays; and answer each other's questions about when to visit large-scale displays like those at Veterans United and EquipmentShare.
"It’s all in the Christmas spirit," Berlemann said.
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The Facebook group's most popular feature is a Google map, pinned to the top of the page and created by a cartographer of Christmas lights, Bill Surapaneni. The map is updated as members share new locations and submit their own displays. Berlemann estimates the map was viewed around 630,000 times last Christmas season alone.
Up on the housetop
Berlemann's taste in Christmas lights is pretty ecumenical.
"I like them all, but I really like the obnoxious stuff," he said.
He described his own house as a "hodgepodge" of inflatables, string lights and more.
"I gotta secretly buy Christmas lights at this point," he joked about his holiday habit.
Berlemann said he isn't sure his house is "worthy" to be mentioned alongside iconic Columbia displays, now simply referred to by their holiday handles: spots like the Angel House in the Parkade neighborhood; the North Pole Lights and Grinch on Brookthorn Court; Awesome Inflatables on Chelan Drive; the Ice House on Strathmore Drive; the Gingerbread House in the Highlands and more.
Still, he invites visitors by his place for a block party each year, with neighborhood kids passing out candy canes. One year, Truman Veterans' Hospital brought a tour bus through. And Berlemann enjoys watching from his vantage point to see a different sort of seasonal light — the glow from phones in passing cars as families pull up the Locator to shepherd them toward their next stop.
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No one can stay upset for long in the presence of Christmas lights, Berlemann said. And whether super-sized or small, every light display is special in its way, he said.
"I’d like to think that before the Locator, you might not have even known (a certain display) existed unless you lived on that side of town," Berlemann said. "Now we’ve got people from the north side coming over to the south side and vice versa. We’ve got people coming from Jeff City and Moberly just to see the Christmas lights in Columbia, because you know where all the good ones are now."
Find the Locator on Facebook by searching Columbia Missouri Christmas Lights Locator or directly at https://www.facebook.com/groups/913183515416857.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Popular Facebook group aids Columbians on the hunt for Christmas lights
