Campton Hills light show wows audience

CAMPTON HILLS, Ill. (WLS) -- When it comes to holiday lights displays, you could say Brian Larsen's going pro. His Campton Hills home glows in the night sky thanks to 600,000 individual lights spread across it.

He calls it a "labor of love... although you don't really love it when you're setting it up," acknowledged Larsen.

Preparation for his home holiday display started back in June.

"He's like 'Jaxson can you help me,' and I don't want to say no," said Larsen's son Jaxson.

"I had everyone pushing pixels including my mom and dad," said Larsen before his wife reminded him his great grandma was roped in too.

If you can believe it, this year's show is downsized from 2016.

"But you can't tell. It looks brighter," Larsen promised of the newly added pixel technology.

"Every bulb is... basically there's a little computer inside and you can change it and tell it to do any color under the rainbow," he explained.

"There do seem to be more lights than they've had before, yes," said Kelley Severance, whose family comes by Larsen's dazzling show each year.

"We did pajamas and popcorn and got in the car. It's a fun Christmas tradition to come see the lights and hear the music," Severance added.

Reinet Garcia brought his young boys. They also had a blast watching the glowing show, which is set to music.

"The kids love it and they go crazy," Garcia said.

It's a 38-minute performance but on the weekends Larsen trims it down to 15 because "it's usually about a 15 to 20 minute wait" for cars to pull into his personal parking lot, which holds 70 cars.

Even with a shortened show run time, a line of cars stretches down the road. Larsen showed a picture from a recent weekend; the headlights dot the skyline. The scene is reminiscent of the movie "Field of Dreams," evoking a twist on the classic line: If you light it, they will come.

In fact, Larsen designed his home with a light show in mind.

"All the peaks... normal people (think) it's wasted space but the eaves and being on top of the hill is perfect for doing this Christmas light," said Larsen.

His 2013 display was good enough for Larsen to be crowned a 2013 Great Christmas Light Fight champion. Now he's turning this hobby into a business, with a passion bound to bring out our smiles.

Since the Larsens won The Great Christmas Light Fight, they're not eligible to win our Chicago competition. But you still can! If think you have the best holiday decorations around, just shoot a video of your lights display and share it on our ABC 7 Chicago Facebook page. Look for The Great Chicago Light Fight post and upload your video in the comments section. Only videos, no photos will be accepted and they have to be posted on Facebook. We will accept entries until 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 14. We will then narrow down the selections and you'll be able to vote for your favorite. The winner will be announced on ABC 7 News This Morning on Friday, December 22. Good luck!