CarMax Tacky Light Run - Tacky Training Blog

The Lloyd-Mustian family, along with their friends and neighbors Paula and Bryan Chamberlain, are among the residents of Dawnridge Court in Walton Park that go all out on their holiday decorations and tacky lights. And when we say all out, we mean ALL OUT, as you can see from the photos. They are serious about their fun, and love being a part of the CarMax Tacky Light Run course each year. But how do they come up with their ideas, and how long does the planning, construction, and design process take? And where did they find a wooden shark to include in their yard décor? Find the answer to all those questions in the first installment of their CarMax Tacky Light Run Training Blog, a Q&A with Katy Mustian.

How long have you lived in Walton Park, and how long have you been decorating your house with different themes?

The Lloyd-Mustian family has lived in Walton Park for a little more than two years. So this is our third Christmas, along with the third CarMax Tacky Light Run.

But here’s a little background…

In 2013, the Lloyd-Mustian family was looking to move and found a lovely house in Walton Park. Coincidently, Katy’s longtime friends and former college roommates, Paula and Bryan Chamberlain, had been living in Walton Park since 2006. I told Paula that we found a house that we loved on Dawnridge Court and were seriously considering making an offer. Paula’s response was, “You know that’s ‘Christmas Court,’ right?” Paula explained “Christmas Court” further – that the residents go all out with their holiday decorations every year. My husband, Tom, and I thought it would be fun to decorate for Christmas. We moved to Dawnridge Court in June of 2013, started planning, and developed a theme. As rookies, we made the mistake of going on a family vacation over Thanksgiving. When we returned, every house on the street was lit up except ours. We quickly moved into action and started decorating every evening after work. Thankfully, we had already purchased most of our lights and decorations.

The theme, “Christmas in Paradise,” was inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest. It was a lifeguard chair on a beach with Christmas lights strung on the chair and Santa’s jacket hanging from the chair’s arm. Tom, who is very handy, built a lifeguard chair similar to the one in the inspiration photo. Blue lights covered much of the front yard representing the ocean. Marine animals such as dolphins, alligators, pelicans, and flamingos were placed throughout the yard. And, on the beach (the ground covered in white lights), a dancing Santa wearing a hula skirt waved to passersby.

We were ecstatic when Sports Backers awarded our house with the ‘Best Theme’ prize at the 2013 CarMax Tacky Light Run. During the event, we also hosted a cheer zone with the Chamberlains. Despite the wet weather that night, we were all hooked.

After Christmas, we decided that we had to go bigger and better. Planning began months in advance for year two. Me, Tom, Paula, and Bryan held weekend meetings to go over plans for the design. We decided to stick with the ocean theme and incorporated various aspects of the Jaws movies (one of my all-time favorites) into the design. We constructed a boat and named it ‘Orca’ like in the first Jaws movie, except ours was driven by Santa. We had water skiers in a pyramid like in Jaws 3 and other marine life swimming in the ocean. The challenge, though, was how to create the shark. Searching online, Paula found a man in California who constructs wooden yard décor. He happened to have a shark. Tom contacted the gentleman and asked him about creating a large custom-sized shark for the design, and he agreed. Tom ordered two shark fins, a shark head peeking out of the water, and a shark head out of the water with his mouth open and big teeth. Tom added lights outlining the shark pieces and hooked them to a light chaser so the flashing lights made the shark look like it was moving and coming up out of the water.

We again hosted a cheer zone during the 2014 Tacky Light Run. The night went off without a hitch, and we even won the coveted “Best on Dawnridge Court” award for the display.

The theme for 2015 was decided in January shortly after the 2014 decorations were removed. Taking to Pinterest once again for ideas on expanding the beach theme, another photo led to this year’s theme which is yet to be revealed publically. In July, the design was sketched and finalized. In August, construction began.

What are the best parts about the community and holiday spirit in Walton Park?

It’s no surprise that Walton Park was selected for Tacky Light Run. The Walton Park Civic Association and Women’s Club of Walton Park host various celebrations for all occasions like Halloween, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and more. The holiday season brings out the highest level of community involvement. The associations hold caroling, hayrides with Santa, a bonfire, and a Santa breakfast that has two seatings that sell out every year. The neighbors who have grown children continue the traditions for families with young children giving them the opportunities to make wonderful memories.

Any idea how many bulbs end up going into your designs?

Each year, the design has gotten bigger and better. This year, we’re expecting to use about 70,000 bulbs.

What’s your favorite part about decorating? The most challenging part?

We make the planning fun for our two families. We share dinner and drinks while painting, constructing, and hanging lights. We enjoy each other’s company. Then, we love when all of our friends come together for the Tacky Light Run cheer zone and really enjoy seeing our display. We also keep the theme a secret so everyone speculates about it. We post teasers on social media leading up to the grand illumination. It makes for year-round entertainment.

The most challenging part are the aches and pains that result from crawling on the ground since we cover the ground with lights. Finding specific kinds of lights at the last minute is also challenging. Last year we cleaned out the shelves at a couple of Target stores.

This will be the third year of the CarMax Tacky Light Run. What’s your favorite part about the event and having it in Walton Park?

It’s my favorite day of the year. We believe, as a community, it’s an honor to have been selected to host the event. We love having thousands of people come through our neighborhood to share the holidays with us. We love seeing all of the costumes, folks taking photos along the race route, and thousands of people having such a great time in our neighborhood. The neighbors are committed to making this event successful. Personally, we love hosting a cheer zone, and our friends look forward to being part of it. It’s our time to celebrate the holidays with our friends. We encourage our friends to wear costumes and bring noisemakers. We even have a live band playing in the driveway! We’re really good at being tacky, so it’s a perfect fit for us!