NC Christmas display has 7,000 strands of lights and monthly utility bill of $66,000

It could be argued that Michael Gibson and his mom, Dale Gibson, will set a world record this week when they put the finishing touches on a Christmas display that will include 3 million lights.

That’s more than double the size of what was reportedly the world’s largest display – 1.2 million Christmas lights in a mall in Canberra, Australia.

The Gibsons’ masterpiece is going up at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This is the third year the duo has taken a lead in creating the annual Speedway Christmas, which opened Sunday. Last year, 32,000 vehicles from 30 states rolled along the 3.75 miles of track to gawk at the massive holiday display. That translates to about 130,000 people.

Speedway officials say they’ve never thought about entering the show into a world record competition but like the idea. This year’s display will include more than 7,000 strands of lights, stretched out for just under four miles. It takes three dozen people 4,320 hours to set up the decorations, and Michael Gibson, 40, has led a team for the past five years.

He accidentally got his mom into it three years ago.

“I was complaining about how much work it is, and I jokingly said, ‘Come help,’ ” he recalls. “She did, and we can’t get rid of her now. She loves it.”

Dale Gibson, 65, admits thinking it sounded like a good way to spend time with her son. She’s always been a big Christmas decorator, including a 12-foot tree in the house. Speedway Christmas gave her a chance to go grand scale.

“I think we’re actually getting closer to 4 million lights than 3 million,” she said, with a hint of pride. “We have one (new) Christmas tree display that has a ground cover, and it is 255,000 lights in that one display.”

Nine NASCAR tracks around the country do some kind of Christmas show each year, but the one at Charlotte Motor Speedway is believed to be the nation’s most elaborate, with a live nativity scene, drive-in Christmas movies on the 16,000-square-foot screen, a petting zoo, food, carriage rides, photos with Santa and so on.

The show changes annually, and this year it includes a display that is 140 feet long and 40 feet tall, Michael Gibson said. A snow machine has also been added, to drop flakes on people outside the Bethlehem village display.

The utility bill for the month of the December alone will be $66,000, track officials said. They’re basing that estimate on the bill from last December. That’s the cost of a kidney transplant.

Michael Gibson admits there’s a touch of irony in his role. He’s actually a plumber, not a designer or engineer. “And I’m afraid of electricity and electrical stuff,” he says.

So far, the worst thing that has happened in five years, he said, is that a few displays were put up backwards.

The tradeoff for all the work is seeing the reactions of visitors when the lights are on, the two said. Dale Gibson said even she can’t help but be impressed. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff they do here, with lights dancing, all choreographed to music,” she said. “I could stand and watch it for hours.”

She believes the true magic of Christmas is being with family, so she likes the idea of cars and vans filled with families driving slowly around the track to see the show.

The only downside is that mother and son can’t stomach putting up Christmas decorations at their homes anymore.

“You put up 3 million lights and see how bad your fingers hurt,” Michael Gibson says.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 10:21 AM with the headline "NC Christmas display has 7,000 strands of lights and monthly utility bill of $66,000."