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MASON — Carson Williams, an 11-year resident of Deerfield Twp. always enjoyed decorating his home for the holidays.

He works as a network engineer and started programming his holiday lights with a computer nine years ago.

He added more lights and more detail every year — 8,000 lights in 2003 doubled in 2004, and last year's famous show consisted of 25,000 lights.

After voluntarily shutting his show down on Dec. 6, 2005 due to an unfortunate fender-bender in front of his house, Williams expressed an interest in taking his show somewhere that would be more accessible to the public for 2006.

Even though he turned off the switch early in 2005, Willams had already garnered national attention from The Today Show on NBC and CBS Evening News, as well as being featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial. International interviews followed, along with a video of his light show being uploaded to the International Space Station.

He decided to keep his light show in Mason and wanted to make it even bigger and better. That led to Williams partnering with Festivals of Mason Inc. to create the Christmas in Lights show at Heritage Oak Park on U.S. 42.

How he did it.

This year's show boasts 40,000 lights and more than 3,000 feet of cable.

Each replica of Carson Williams' house consists of 1,800 linear feet of lumber, and two dozen sheets of 4'x8' plywood.

The construction crew worked on site building eight-foot reinforced squares of two by six lumber – 15 for each house. These are affixed to 20-foot long base pieces.

Festivals of Mason would like to thank the Greater Cincinnati Home Builder's Association, and several of their members that either donated or discounted materials for the project. Without their generosity, this project would not have been possible.

What to expect

Upon entering the park, please leave your headlights on until you arrive at the set pieces to view the show.

You'll be in a single file line until you arrive at the concessions staging area, where all vehicles will divide into several rows side by side, directed by an attendant.

Concessionaires will approach vehicles with hot chocolate and other offerings. When it is your turn to drive to the show area, you will be directed to one of two sites, where you will view the show drive-in-theater style. You will directly facing the house replica facades.

A few rules

Leave your headlights on until you arrive at the show sites for the safety of our workers and other patrons.

You must have a tunable FM radio to enjoy the show and the Holiday music beforehand. Signage in the park will instruct you on what channels to use. Other instructions and information will be transmitted on the FM broadcast. Please leave your radio tuned to the appropriate station at all times. At some point you will be asked to tune to another station to watch the show.

Please remain in your vehicle at all times. Exceptions: there will be portable restrooms available on site if needed, and on some nights a special concessions lane will be available where you can leave your vehicle and approach the concessions stand).