Computer whiz lights up Avenue E in Fort Madison – Mississippi Valley Publishing
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Updated: December 24, 2022 @ 11:52 am
A silent, still image in no way does justice to the dazzling Christmas light display at 804 Ave. E, across from city hall. For the full experience, tune to 87.9 FM, as the display is choreographed to the music. Follow Lights on Avenue E on Facebook to stay up to date with additions.
A silent, still image in no way does justice to the dazzling Christmas light display at 804 Ave. E, across from city hall. For the full experience, tune to 87.9 FM, as the display is choreographed to the music. Follow Lights on Avenue E on Facebook to stay up to date with additions.
FORT MADISON – It’s impossible to miss the Christmas lights display across from city hall, at 804 Ave. E in Fort Madison, also known as the Samuel Atlee house.
The mastermind behind the display is Matt Emmett, who was born and raised in Fort Madison and moved back to town this year with his wife, Sarah, and their kids.
It will come as no surprise that Emmett is a computer scientist by trade.
Emmett simply loves Christmas lights.
“My dad drove us around every year looking at Christmas lights. One of my absolute favorites was late Mike Manka of Fort Madison,” he said. “He had an amazing display. When I came across one of these displays on the news, I was curious and starting researching how to do it. The rest is history.”
The display runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. People should tune their radio to 87.9 FM to fully appreciate the experience.
“Each one of those sequences is choreographed to the music,” Emmett said. “It literally dances to the music.”
This is Emmett’s fourth season doing a Christmas display. He also did a Halloween display for the first time this year.
He’s been working on it almost every spare minute since July. As the Emmett family moved back to Fort Madison this year, he had to rebuild everything for this house.
“My wife was like ‘just do something small that you can do this year,’” he said, “but of course I’m like ‘I’m not going back to day one again; I’ve been doing this for four years, I want a big show!’
How does it work? It’s complicated. Emmett said the show is comprised of four elements: the individual lights, the controllers, the show computer and the sequence software.
The lights aren’t standard Christmas lights either. These are RGB (red, green, blue) pixels. Emmett said they differ from regular lights in a few ways
“First, each light actually is made of three separate lights, a red light, a green light and a blue light. Together these lights can create millions of colors,” he said. “Another way they differ is that each light has three wires instead of two. The third wire tells the pixel which color and intensity to display.”
The lights are connected to specialized controllers, Emmett said, that understand how to control each individual light separately.
“The show computer connects over a standard data network to each of the controllers,” he said. “The show computer decodes the song/animation sequences and sends data to the controllers to activate the appropriate pixels at the appropriate time. Finally, the sequencing software is used to create the song/animation sequences.”
That sounds like quite the power bill. Emmett said it’s not as bad as one would think.
“The lights are not solid on for the show, they are blinking on and off and different intensities,” he said. “It’s capable of pulling about 4500 watts on brights scenes with all lights on.”
Emmett said people shouldn’t be afraid to stop and talk.
“I’m out there all the time, sometimes I’m sitting in a chair watching it, sometimes I’m in my silver F250,” he said. “If they have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask me. I love everything from ‘how does it work’ to ‘oh my God, your show is awesome.’”
It took a lot of time and effort but he loves doing it.
“I say I do it for the children; my wife says I’m the child I do it for,” he said. “I see the same cars out there every night with the kids bouncing up and down. It’s great.”
To keep up with any additions to the display, show times, song lists, photos and videos, and behind the scenes looks, Emmett has created a Facebook page: Lights on Avenue E.
“I get a lot of joy seeing my followers on the page and posting stuff for them” he said.
Emmett said he does not accept donations.
“I do this because I love it. We would be ecstatic if people who enjoy the show make a donation to their favorite charity,” he said. “There are many in need this time of year such as the food bank, Salvation Army or Toys for Tots.”
Emmett expressed his appreciation for Sarah and their kids and their support for his hobby.
“They put up with a lot of crap,’ he said. “My poor wife. It looks like this Christmas display exploded in our house.”
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