Parsisson shares holiday spirit with music and lights at Centerburg home

Since the invention of electric lights in 1882 by Ohioan Thomas Edison and his associate Edward H. Johnson, people have looked forward to seeing brilliant displays of holiday lighting in public places, businesses, and on the homes of friends and neighbors.

For Centerburg resident Mark Parsisson, the spirit of Christmas has brought out his skills as an artist, builder, inventor, and a programmer.

For the last six or seven years, Parsisson has lit up his country home with a holiday display known as Porter Lane Lights, using lights and music to ignite the Christmas spirit in his friends and neighbors all over Knox County.

“We started this around 2018 or 2019,” said Centerburg resident Mark Parsisson. “It was just something I saw somebody else doing and I just wanted to do it. So, here we are. It's something I enjoy. I like solving problems. I like technical stuff. I like to figure out how to do things, whether that's here on the farm, or in this case, the lights. I just stumbled on this hobby and said, ‘Hey, this is interesting.’ Lots to work on and lots to figure out. I find that exciting and so I put it together. Obviously, the people enjoy it as well, and so I'm glad to do it for the community.”

Even when he was building his current home, Parsisson was planning ways to make it easier to add outdoor lighting.

“When I built the house, I knew that I wanted to do something a little different,” explained Parsisson. “I had wired some outlets specifically for holiday or Christmas lights, because I knew I wanted to do that. I thought, ‘I'm going to put up lights and it'll be there year-round.’ That way, I don't have to get up on my ladder and hang them like everybody else does. We all get tired of doing that, but that was my original thought. Then I started looking into what that might look like.”

Parsisson’s search into that and other questions led him into the world of holiday lighting enthusiasts.

"There are people all over that do this,” said Parsisson. "There are regional conferences in Ohio and in the Midwest. There's at least one or two national conferences, where people come from all over the United States, and from other countries. They go to see what is the latest in lighting and displays and that kind of stuff. There's a lot of people out here more advanced than I am, but I'm happy where I'm at.”

That may mean about five or 10 cars a night come to see and hear the show of lights and music on Persisson’s farm.

“That may seem small compared to what a lot of guys closer to Columbus get, but I'm out in the country and I'm fine with that,” said Parsisson. “We get probably about two or 300 visitors throughout the entire season. Some of those (light shows) in more populated areas and those that advertised through the entire season, might have 200 or 300 a night, so they are very, very busy, but again, I do it because I enjoy it. The local people enjoy it and I'm not one for big numbers or lines of cars.”

Parsisson’s biggest surprise may be the size of his electric bill.

“A lot of people say, ‘Well that must cost you a lot in electricity,’ but it really doesn’t,” said Parsisson. “We have about 15,000 lights in the show, but the whole show runs off of two outlets, So, that doesn't make a big use of energy. All these are, are LED lights, so you don't use much electricity. They are low power and every, single light is controllable, so I can tell every individual light when to be on, what color to be, how bright to be, and how long to stay on. Using that with 15,000 lights can create a lot of great patterns."

Fortunately, he doesn't have to find one bulb that's not working in that set of 15,000.

"Because you can stand back and look at them and see which ones aren't working,” said Parsisson. “It's pretty easy to find the ones that are not working and that does happen. They do stop working. Some people have good years and there's not a whole lot of hassle. Then, there are guys, who you'll see comment about, ‘I'm ready to give up this whole hobby, because I'm so tired of fixing stuff.’ Some years are just like that. Some years are a real nightmare, but not every year."

Parsisson creates many of the parts of his display, but there are companies that have these things ready made.

“For the most part it's built on (corrugated plastic) like the yard signs that you will often see on people’s front lawns,” said Parsisson. “They have holes drilled into them, which the lights go into. Now, not many come with lights in them. There are a few companies that sell those. Most of the time, you buy the lights, and you buy the props separately. Then, you assemble them and you put the lights in the holes."

Porter Lane Lights is, perhaps the biggest project on his small farm, but not the only one.

“It's a smaller farm,” said Parsisson. “We only have 35 acres, but we raise Scottish highlands for breed stock. Also, we make maple syrup. We build a different type of beehive, which is more insulated, more natural beekeeping. There's also the obligatory cats and chickens, and other stock.”

Aside from farming, Parsisson, now in his mid 50s, worked in IT for some years and that's where he developed his knack for solving problems. 

"A lot of people in this hobby are problem solvers,” said Parsisson. “We will either dream of something that nobody else has done or try to re-create something that someone else did do. Several of the pieces in our show are things that I designed. They are usually based on somebody else's idea, but it was nothing I purchased. It was just me sitting down and dreaming of all the components and figuring out how I was going to make it work. Our biggest piece is a mega tree, so it has a Christmas tree shape, but it's called a mega tree, because it's very big. We got mini trees and medium trees too. Because of where I have the mega tree mounted, it's about 24 feet tall, with a 3-foot diameter sphere on the top of it instead of a star. That's all custom designed. I had to come up with how to mount it, how to make it come down, and how to store it."

So, where are all of these intricate pieces going to be stored for six to 10 months of the year, when they are not in use?

"I've got barns, but still, you want to be space efficient," said Parsisson. "Also, about 25 percent of those lights are permanent. They never come off the house. I designed a mounting system for them. Now, you can get those kind of things commercially, but I designed a way to hook them into the bottom of my gutters, So, they are there, but you don't really see them. The rest are pretty easy for the whole show, I can put them together without using anything but a 4-foot step ladder. Other than that, no tall ladders."

A well choreographed light show needs music. Parsisson has set up the software to drive the lights and a low power radio station on 96.5 FM to provide the right music that plays in time with the lights, making Porter Lane Lights a spectacular show for the eye and the ear.

"The music and the lights are sequenced to each, individual song,” said Parsisson. “All of the things the lights do for a particular song are part of the show. It's all timed, sequenced, and coordinated. It's easy enough in a relative sense, to say I'm going to program songs that are Christmasy or I'm going to program some kids songs or some stuff that are more New Year's or pop songs. On Halloween, we have some different types of props and we coordinate it with different music."

Parsisson’s mother, Gloria, and daughter, Emma, both help quite a bit to keep this going, year round. He needs their help because the show doesn't stop when Christmas is over.

“We have Christmas and we have Halloween,” said Parsisson. “We have New Year's starting this past year, and we did Valentine's as well, because it was really cold and I said, ‘I'm not taking the stuff down. We'll just wait till after Valentines.’ So. it's relatively easy. I can sit at my computer and change which songs are in the playlist.”

Thus, the holiday season starts. The halls have been decked and can be enjoyed by all, who pass by to sneak a peek.

"Unless I have to make repairs, right now is the quiet part of my year, because all I have to do is run the show,” said Parsisson. “I've done all the set up and all the figuring out and the programming. All I have to do now is make sure nothing breaks.”

Porter Lane Lights Christmas/New Year show will run daily from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m., now through Jan. 3.

It is located at 1001 Porter Lane in Centerburg. Please visit their website at: https://porterlanelights.remotefalcon.com.