12/05/2016
Special thanks to Anthony Orozco for writing this wonderful article in helping us to spread the word.
Sincerely,
The Strunks
Reading Eagle - Anthony Orozco
The 800 block of Beach Street in Muhlenberg Township is noticeably less festive than usual for this time of year.
Since 2009, Eric and Melissa Strunk have celebrated the Christmas season with an annual light show. The show has become a local attraction and a pilgrimage for some families. But damage to the show's lights and display systems caused the Strunks to pull the plug on this year's show. "This is just a talent we found that we could give to the community," said Eric, 35. "It is just what we love to do and we had to come to terms that it wasn't going to happen this year." Snowfall in January damaged aspects of the lights and control system that make the light show possible, he said. With Eric's workload as a plant engineer for a pressure pasteurization company in Chester County, and limited free time, making repairs and then setting up the display did not appear to be an option, he said. On the event's "Lights At Beach" page, fans express the disappointment and share their sympathies with the Strunks after the recent announcement that the show was canceled. "Thanks for your past displays and all your hard work and expense to do something like that!" one fan wrote among the comments. "I started a tradition of taking my grandkids by your place the past two years."
Another fan told the Strunks: "The kids were just asking about this and were sad to read this news, but we are praying for you guys and thankful for the shows we've been blessed to see!" The Strunks are just as disappointed as their fans. "It is hard for us because people look forward to it," Melissa said. "We look forward to it." The Strunks' home has custom-made components, including computer boxes that power and coordinate the lights to music, for the display. The thousands of pixel lights that adorn the house for the show are make up of bulbs with small individual computer chips. Some of those chips sustained water damage from snowfall in January. Freezing also snapped some of the wires that string the pixels together. In addition, Eric is working to figure out what was damaged in a computer box that received light show commands from a central computer. He noted that some fans offered to set up online fundraising campaigns to help pay for repairs. But in his Facebook cancellation message and in person, Eric said he didn't want that. "We've never wanted anyone to pay their hard-earned money to see our light show," Eric said. "We don't want anyone to have to spend money on this; we're going to fix it." He has been talking with fellow light show do-it-yourselfers in a private Facebook group and says he is well on his way to resolving the issues that thwarted this year's show. Eric and Melissa, in their dining room with their 2-year-old son, Austin, said that they look forward to next year and tossed around ideas to make the show bigger and more exciting.
"It should be really cool," Eric said.
Contact Anthony Orozco: 610-371-5015 or [email protected]
A couple said they canceled their extensive light show this year because of damaged sustained by the system last year.
