Annual Jasper County Christmas lights raise money in memory of Beaufort student
Chelsea Brendlen and her family love Christmas.
They really love Christmas.
Anyone driving past the Brendlens’ home on Driggers Lane in Ridgeland after 5 p.m. on any December evening can guess that, though.
Tens of thousands of Christmas lights peep through a dark, tall wall of trees separating the home from Bees Creek Road, enticing passersby to stop.
And they do.
The annual display, set up on 5 acres, attracts thousands of visitors each year, Brendlen said.
The Brendlens’ Lowcountry Christmas Light Display, which collects money to help families in need, has been a Jasper County tradition for more than two decades, and it keeps growing, in size and impact.
In the past, the light display has collected money for the family of Stuart Hardy, a fallen Burton firefighter, and in 2014 for Jessie Webster, a 15-year-old Thomas Heyward Academy student diagnosed with cancer.
This year, the money will go to the Anna Grace Dennis Horizon Scholarship in memory of a Beaufort Academy student who died in August. Dennis was a softball standout, tireless volunteer and, according to her school, a ‘beacon of compassion.’
“Anna Grace was a friend of my son,” Chelsea Brendlen said. “She went to his senior prom with him, so this year he wanted to do the display in her honor.”
McKenzie Young, a recent Battery Creek High School graduate, became close friends with Dennis after they met at volleyball camp at Beaufort Academy and later played travel softball together.
Young said she was excited that the Brendlen family chose to honor Dennis with the light display this year.
“She made the world a better place, and she made everybody’s lives much better,” Young said. “And now, this (scholarship) will make the world a much better place.”
Driving around to see the light display is free, but there’s a mailbox at the end of the trail to leave donations. The Brendlens have also sold T-shirts and more than 200 Christmas wreaths to raise money.
Each year around the beginning of October, Brendlen, her husband Barry, twin daughters Ashley and Allison, and son Johnny, start pulling the lights and displays out of storage and testing them. Full-throttle decorating picks up in November, so the display can be ready to go by Thanksgiving.
Making sure upwards of 90,000 lights are perfectly placed and all operating is no small job. Among the tasks: setting up lights in the trees and around the house, the projector that shows Santa waving to visitors, the nativity scene, grandma being chased by a reindeer in a monster truck, the gingerbread village, toyland, and many more.
Brendlen said these last few years, she and Barry have considered retiring from doing the display.
“But we keep getting talked back into it,” Brendlen said with a laugh. “The kids don’t want it to stop.”
The Brendlens pay for the display themselves, and say they’re thankful to be able to do so.
“We just enjoy being able to help people,” Brendlen said, “and it brings a smile to people’s faces.”
The display will be lighted nightly, weather permitting, at 1570 Driggers Lane through New Year’s Eve from 6-10 p.m. The lights will be on an hour longer, from 6-11 p.m., Dec. 23-27.
On Saturday, the Brendlens plan a special event from 6-8 p.m. with a visit from Santa, cookie and ornament decorating, hot chocolate, desserts, and face painting.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 11:30 AM.
