Mike Rich has attracted attention for his Christmas light and music show at his home on Pearl Croft Road.
Over the last two years, Mike Rich’s home at 127 Pearl Croft Road in Cherry Hill has become a place to visit for many residents during the holiday season.
Rich set up his first Christmas light display synchronized to music in 2017. The lights have returned this year, with Rich programming a series of light strands lining his room and lights in the bushes outside his home to a series of popular Christmas songs. The 15-minute show brings numerous visitors down his street every night during December.
A father of two, Rich’s family is fairly new to Cherry Hill, having moved to their Pearl Croft Road home in 2017. Even before moving to the township, Rich was inspired to do a light show synchronized to music.
“A couple years ago, I took the kids to a house that had a Facebook page,” Rich said. “It was much bigger than my display. The kids really loved it and the people were handing out candy canes and hot chocolate and stuff.”
Upon moving to Cherry Hill, Rich discovered his neighborhood had numerous families who put up sizable light displays. Rich saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally put up his light show.
Putting together the first show took many hours of research and planning to get off the ground. Rich spent many hours on the computer researching the numerous light synchronization software programs available, different light sequences, the supplies needed to put together the display and more.
“It took at least a year in planning to figure out how it works and the technology behind it,” Rich said. “After a year of prep and planning and thought, then was the execution.”
“(Last) September, I was in the basement,” Rich continued. “I had my lights laid out and I was starting to test, program songs and set the configurations on the system.”
Rich got started with a set of basic light sequences he purchased online. He set up his laptop with his synchronization program in the basement of his house. Cat6 cables run from his computer outside to the lights. Rich currently has two types of lights set up. There are six strands of “smart” lights where each individual bulb can be programmed to a different color. These lights line the roof of his house. In the bushes are eight “dumb” RGB light stands where the color remains the same on every bulb in the strand.
For the music, Rich uses an FM radio tuner and antenna to broadcast the music a short distance outside his house on 92.9 FM. He also plays the music through speakers set up outside. Some of the songs in his show include “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and the song “Hot Chocolate” from the movie “The Polar Express.”
“After it was all set up, it was even more than what I thought it was going to be,” Rich said. “It turned out pretty well. I still want to grow it, but it’s been pretty good so far.”
What Rich didn’t expect from his display was the amount of attention it would receive. After he set it up for the first time last year, residents began to notice it, with some sharing the display on Cherry Hill community Facebook groups. Rich started to notice more and more people stop by as the holiday season continued and said there were even traffic jams at times.
“Last year, there were retirement home buses stopping at the house,” Rich said. “There was a tour bus that stopped at the house. The neighbors have been pretty cool about it. I’ve been respectful and turn them off at a reasonable hour.”
Rich’s entire 15-minute show is automated, starting a little after dusk each night and plays on a loop until it shuts off at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday or 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Rich said the display has brought a lot of joy to his family as well as many residents across town. He plans to continue the display for years to come and already has an idea of what he wants to do for next year.
“Next year, I have a plan to light up the tree in our yard, add a singing Santa Claus or Christmas tree, and probably do a mega tree,” Rich said.
