Justin Lenhard has moved his elaborate holiday light shows from Pevely to Festus.
The first show, a Halloween light display, opened Sept. 24, at Larry G. Crites Memorial Park in Festus.
Lenhard also plans to create a Christmas display, which is expected to open Dec. 3 at the park, coinciding with the 2022 Festus WinterFest event.
Both light shows are set to music.
The Halloween light display may be viewed from 7:30-10 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays until the week before Halloween. From Oct. 24-Oct. 31, the light show will run 7:30-10:30 p.m. every night.
The times for the Christmas light show are to be determined, Lenhard said.
Lenhard began putting together his light shows three years ago at his home in Pevely. When neighbors complained to Pevely officials about the amount of traffic generated by his display, he agreed to set up the light show in a Pevely park.
After that, Lenhard said he sought what he considered greener pastures for the light show.
“I felt I wasn’t getting the cooperation I needed,” he said. “I reached out to other cities.”
Lenhard said Festus officials, particularly recreation and tourism director Barb Lowry, were receptive to hosting Lenhard’s light show.
“She’s been very accommodating,” he said. “It’s because of her this is in Festus.”
Pevely City Administrator Andy Hixson said his city did what it could to support Lenhard and his light shows.
“We were always willing and thrilled to work with Mr. Lenhard,” Hixson said. “Unfortunately, we are restricted in manpower and time. We sat down with him and looked at many options.”
Lowry said the chance for Festus to host the Lenhard light show was appealing.
“He just happened to stop by City Hall on a whim to see if we were interested,” she said. “We were very interested. It will be something for our community and for the surrounding communities.”
Lenhard, 42, said he has expanded the eye-catching light display, which featured 10,000 lights when it was at Pevely park.
“I’m looking to make the Guinness Book of Records with our Halloween display,” he said. “It has about 66,000 lights.”
Lenhard said he has applied to the Guinness Book of Records to begin the verification process for a record in the book.
“It’s a lot of things I have to do for verification,” he said. “It won’t happen before Halloween.”
Lenhard said a record-setting Christmas light display likely would be out of his reach.
“We’ll do 70,000 to 80,000 lights for Christmas,” he said. “It’s too big of a record for Christmas.”
His light shows are operated with computers.
“This year, there will be 17 computers running both shows,” he said.
Lenhard said he and his wife, Princess, and sons, Ethan and Liam, put on the shows for entertainment purposes and to raise money for the Jefferson County Rescue Mission in Pevely. His family foots the bill for the displays.
“We’re putting in more than $20,000 total for the Halloween and Christmas light shows,” said Lenhard, who works for an auto dealership. “It’s just something we do as a hobby, as a family. Me, my wife and my kids work on this all year long.”
He said a donation box for the Rescue Mission is next to the display right now, but may be moved closer to the road inside the park.
For more information, visit the Lenhard Family Light Show Facebook page.
Lenhard said that the city of Festus has helped with this year’s Halloween light display by erecting a structure for the display.
“The city built the structure to my specs,” Lenhard said. “They deserve a huge shoutout.”
According to the Festus website, people may turn their vehicles’ radios to 99.7 to hear the music that accompanies the light show as they drive past the display.
Some parking is available near the display, but those who aren’t parked and are driving past are urged to “keep moving – even if it’s a slow crawl.”
People also are encouraged to turn off their headlights as they are driving near the display.
“There will be lots of light coming from the display,” the website said.