Providence Christmas » In The News!

2008 Vaderville Christmas Light Show on CBS

Darren — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 01:26:04 +0000

This is the spot that CBS 11 (hi Stewart!) ran on November 28th – opening night for our 2008 season. It rained the morning of so most of the lights didn’t even work, but it still came out nice.

Synchronizing Signals (Denton Record Chronicle)

Darren — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:39:02 +0000

Lori Forgay with the Denton Record Chronicle stopped by to visit with us last week and wrote a great piece that was printed on the front page of the Friday edition of the paper. It’s a very cool thing to see our hard work on display for all to see. Thank you to Lori for taking the interest and the time to weld together a great piece!

Click here to see the entire story:

Synchronizing Signals
Neighbors collaborate to spread holiday joy with elaborate display
Denton Record Chronicle
Friday, December 12, 2008

Vaderville: Live on 97X Classic Rock With Dwyer & Michaels

Darren — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:45:30 +0000

Looks like this year we’ve broken out of the Texas media market and into some national spots. On top of the pending spot in the NBC Christmas special, I got a call from Beth Davis with the Dwyer & Michaels morning show on 97X Fm in Davenport, Iowa (WXLP 97FM, Cumulus Broadcasting). Looks like I’ll be on the air with them tomorrow morning (Wed., Dec 3) at about 8:30am CST.

It seems that they are big fans of Christmas lighting too!

You can listen to the show live by clicking the “Listen Now” link here: http://97xtest.homestead.com/index.html

Let there be light – lots and lots of light (Denton Record Chronicle)

Darren — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:30:02 +0000

Christmas buff turns on massive holiday display

08:14 AM CST on Thursday, November 27, 2008

Darren Vader will turn his end of the street in Providence Village into Christmas town when the clock strikes 6 p.m. Friday.

Except Vader has dubbed it “Vaderville.”

The Vaderville synchronized light show is made up of three neighboring houses pulsating in sync with more than 40,000 lights and special effects running on 80 computer-controlled channels of animation. There’s a virtual Santa and animated video clips that are synchronized to play with holiday songs being broadcast over an FM transmitter at 107.3 on the dial.

Show times are 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Sat ur day, weather permitting. This is a residential display, so admission is free. Donation of nonperishable food items or clothing to the HOPE Bank are welcome. Donations can be placed in the collection bin at the front of the display.

See www.vaderville.com for more information and maps.

— Staff report

Link to this story: Denton Record Chronicle

CBS Affiliate KTVT Channel 11 Visits Vaderville

Darren — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 22:20:55 +0000

We’d like to thank Carol Cavazos with Channel 11 News for coming out last night. Her team put together a nice spot that ran on the 10pm broadcast. It’s the media that drives the awareness and sets in motion the process of ‘paying it forward’ with our food drive for the HOPE Bank in Aubrey. We greatly appreciate their support!

I’ve received several emails from old friends and family who saw the spot on the news last night. It’s interesting how many people who I have lost touch with ‘find me’ every year at Christmas time.

The power of the media works in mysterious ways.

Click here to view the video.

380 Guide Magazine Visits Vaderville

Darren — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:49:02 +0000

I want to send a very big thank you out to Andrea Hikel and the 380 Guide for coming by our place last saturday to chat with us about this year’s display and the HOPE Bank. Andrea is writing a story for the December issue of 380 Guide Magazine that should be a great read. We’re looking forward to it.

Thanks Andrea!

NBC Holiday Special

Darren — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:43:44 +0000

I received an interesting email from Gina Gonzalez with JUMA Entertainment today. They are producing a one-off holiday special involving holiday home video for NBC and have shown some interest in our light show videos. That would be pretty cool! I’ll keep you posted. (BTW: the “Nutcracker” video she mentions has now been viewing by 311,000 people and counting).

Hello! My name is Gina Gonzalez and I am an Associate Producer from JUMA Entertainment in Los Angeles. We are currently working on a new holiday special for NBC that I was wondering if you’d be interested in? I came across your very entertaining Christmas Lights videos, and loved them, especially the Nutcracker! We’re scanning the country for funny, memorable, and entertaining holiday home videos of all kinds to be part of our countdown. So if you’d be interested in submitting this video, or videos, please e-mail me at as soon as possible for all the details. Thanks for your time, I hope to hear from you real soon!
Thanks Again!
Gina Gonzalez
JUMA
Associate Producer
323-969-1989

Vader Christmas Light Show on Channel 8 News

Darren — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:22:25 +0000

Yesterday was one of those gratifying days that makes all the hard work worth it. Steve Stoler with Channel 8 called yesterday afternoon saying they wanted to come out and shoot our computer animated Christmas light display for the 10pm show. At about 6:15 we heard a helicopter and then saw it coming in close – very close with spotlights and all. The copter hovered for a bit, Steve arrived a few minutes later and then the mobile broadcast van arrived. In all they spent over 4 hours shooting video, interviewing the kids, editing the shows and doing a live segment on the 10pm broadcast. Very much fun!

i want to thank Channel 8 and Steve Stoler for coming out. One of our goals was to spread the word enough to get people coming out in large enough volumes to warrant the beginnings of a food drive for the North Texas Food Bank. Well, tonight we put out our first collection box and announced the drive and thanks to the support of Channel 8, 380 Guide, Frisco Online, The Dallas Morning News, KERA and others over the past week; we had the largest crown ever tonight. Including a couple of shuttles showing people around the areas light displays and a big ‘ol ‘tour bus’ full of folks from Allen! More importantly, we filled out first collection bin for the North Texas Food Bank.

I love Christmas!

Vaderville is Feature Story on NPR (KERA 90.1fm)

Darren — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:26:54 +0000

Click here to listen to my 2007 interview with National Public Radio: Click here to listen to my interview with National Public Radio.

Denton Record Chronicle Shines a Light on Vaderville

Darren — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:38:57 +0000

Here’s another article on our light display. This one is from the Denton Record Chronicle:

Shine a light

10:23 AM CST on Thursday, December 13, 2007

Is your yard or a neighbor’s all decked out in lights, figures and fake snow?

The Lake Forest Good Samaritan Village, a retirement community in Denton, has plenty of lights and a cheerful St. Nick in its courtyard.

The Creek Hollow 800 Cottage division of the center has put up an impressive lighting display for the past four years, and residents hope local holiday enthusiasts will visit their display.

The Hanus family, at 2204 Fairfax Trail, shows off a nativity scene in its front yard. Accent lighting comes on each evening to highlight the pop-up book style scene.

The Hanuses wrote, We have our nativity scene all set up for our grandchildren to enjoy when they arrive in Texas from North Carolina.â€

The Vader family in Aubrey has not only an orchestrated lighting display, but a Web site and blog about its ambitious annual phenomenon.

“This year [2007] our display will include over 30,000 lights, 30 strobe lights, a virtual snow machine made out of a rotating disco ball, a virtual Santa Claus, red and green flood backdrops, a new mini-mega tree and a fancy new sign announcing the audio signal at 107.3 FM”, Darren Vader writes on the family’s holiday blog.

The idea is for motorists to drive by 1441 Providence Blvd. in Aubrey with their radios tuned to 107.3 FM. The lighting at the Vaders house is coordinated with holiday music broadcast on the station.

The Vaderville show runs from 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

Submit a photo of your display, or a neighbor’s, using the Let Us Know feature at www.denton
rc.com. Click on the Local button, and submit your photos and description using the news item category.

Include your name, address, how many lights you’ve used and your theme.

Lucinda Breeding