Ridgeland Christmas display raises money for teenager with cancer
It started much simpler, and as a labor of Christmas love.
But then it grew into much more.
"We kind of lost track but we would say we have between 80,000 and 100,000 lights," Chelsea Brendlen said.
The Brendlen's Lowcountry Christmas display in Ridgeland has become a local holiday attraction that, along with providing nightly cheer from Thanksgiving through Christmas, also helps a family in need each year.
This year, the lights display and all donations collected are going to the family of Jessie Webster, a 15-year-old student at Thomas Heyward Academy who was diagnosed in June with Burkitt's Lymphoma.
Webster is undergoing treatment and this is one of a number of local fundraisers in her honor.
So far, about $400 has been donated by visitors to this year's display, Brendlen said.
The lights began in 1994 with a few strings of lights. Now, there are more than 90 displays, ranging from Santa playing basketball to gingerbread children swinging and jumping rope, Santa's elves in their workshop and a 30-foot Nativity scene, according to Brendlen and the website set up for the display.
The Brendlen's have a several-acre property the lights are spread over and visitors drive a loop that takes them by all the displays. The family's daughters are often there to greet cars and offer candy canes.
The family begins pulling the lights out of storage in September each year, sets up in October and flips the switch after Thanksgiving. During the weeks just before Christmas, they'll have a few dozen nightly visitors, but Christmas week usually brings a steady stream.
Brendlen said although the lights require frequent maintenance and hike the electric bill a few hundred dollars, the family keeps none of the donations.
"I would love to not collect anything for anyone, but there's always a need," she said.
Follow reporter Erin Moody at twitter.com/IPBG_Erin.
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This story was originally published December 20, 2014 at 6:04 PM with the headline " Ridgeland Christmas display raises money for teenager with cancer."