Hundreds of thousands of lights shine brightly in Mulberry Christmas display

Holiday Light Display Dazzles in Mulberry

Thousands flock to a Mulberry neighborhood each year to see a spectacular holiday display.

Mulberry, Fla. - More than 200,000 lights twinkling in unison to 25 Christmas songs dazzle up to 2,000 visitors a night in the Imperial Lakes development in Mulberry.   

Donald Weaver began setting up his elaborate holiday light display 12 years ago at the urging of his wife. He was hesitant at first because his children were grown up, but she encouraged him to put up Christmas lights for the 60-70 children who live in the neighborhood.

Weaver said he began with 42,000 lights and it grew each year. 

“A lot of people don’t do Christmas big anymore in neighborhoods like they used to,” Weaver said. “When I was a kid growing up in North Carolina, the whole street would be lit up. We didn’t have music and we had 10-15,000 different lights, which was a lot back then, but nowadays people don’t put up that much. People just don’t have the time.”

It took Weaver 34 days, working 12 hours each day to make the magic happen this year. 

Weaver is no stranger to lighting. He is a professional lighting designer and has worked with national television shows, like Monday Night Football. He said, “I do lighting and this is just something that’s special for me.”

This is the second year Weaver set up the display without his wife. She passed away a year and a half ago. Weaver says two days before she died she asked him if he was going to continue setting up the Christmas lights. When he said yes, she asked him to make the display even bigger and better.

Weaver kept that promise to his wife and even got 17 of his neighbors to set up Christmas light displays as well. He said, “It’s nice to see what the neighbors have done now. They’ve done a great job and I got to know everybody.”

Weaver says the best part is seeing the kids. “It’s amazing when it’s really crowded at night. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it’s just packed and it’s just the thrill of seeing the smiles on the kid’s faces.”

This may be the last year Weaver puts up the Christmas lights in Mulberry. He said he is thinking about moving to South Carolina with his son. Though he said he’ll miss his neighbors, he vows to put 250,000 Christmas lights up at his new home.