Barnharts' Christmas Display Back For Another Year
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
WINONA LAKE - The musical Christmas tree and lighting display at the west end of the house at 902 Wooster Road, Winona Lake, has something new again this year.
The lights on the large tree have all been changed to new brilliant, jewel-tone lights. Mini trees also were added on both sides of the driveway.
Kathy and Richard Barnhart, who build the display, have dubbed themselves the "Winona Wizards of Winter," based on music by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The Barnharts build the display, which operates to music that doesn't just flash on and off. Through an intricate system of single-colored strings of light, computer programs and a single-watt FM radio station, you can listen to the music on your radio while watching the various colors of lights dance to the music.
From 5:30 to 10 p.m. each night, two half-hour programs of Christmas music alternate, and Kathy still distributes cookies to those who come to watch the display. Last year, she passed out 165 dozen cookies. This year, the most popular cookies are Snickerdoodles.
The last night for the display will be New Year's Eve.
More than 20 years ago, when Richard taught computer sciences at Liberty University in Virginia, the large church associated with the university asked him to write a computer program to work with a talking Christmas tree. While working on his master's degree at Virginia Tech, one of his assignments was to design and write a computer language. Rich wrote it for the Christmas tree.
Four years ago, when Richard accepted a position teaching computer information systems at Grace College, the musical tree moved to Winona Lake.
Today, the large frame of the tree contains an intricate system of strings of six colors of lights wound around pegs in the tree, with cables, based upon color and location, running to the control box, located in the lower level of the Barnhart's house.
Each song must be transmitted to the FM radio station and individually programmed into a hard drive to drive the corresponding light controls.
The best way to view and listen to the musical Christmas tree is to park in the east parking lot of the Alpha dorm at Grace College. Alpha is the eastern-most dorm on the south side of Wooster Road. Tune your radio to FM 94.9 (new this year) to listen to the music associated with the lights. [[In-content Ad]]
WINONA LAKE - The musical Christmas tree and lighting display at the west end of the house at 902 Wooster Road, Winona Lake, has something new again this year.
The lights on the large tree have all been changed to new brilliant, jewel-tone lights. Mini trees also were added on both sides of the driveway.
Kathy and Richard Barnhart, who build the display, have dubbed themselves the "Winona Wizards of Winter," based on music by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The Barnharts build the display, which operates to music that doesn't just flash on and off. Through an intricate system of single-colored strings of light, computer programs and a single-watt FM radio station, you can listen to the music on your radio while watching the various colors of lights dance to the music.
From 5:30 to 10 p.m. each night, two half-hour programs of Christmas music alternate, and Kathy still distributes cookies to those who come to watch the display. Last year, she passed out 165 dozen cookies. This year, the most popular cookies are Snickerdoodles.
The last night for the display will be New Year's Eve.
More than 20 years ago, when Richard taught computer sciences at Liberty University in Virginia, the large church associated with the university asked him to write a computer program to work with a talking Christmas tree. While working on his master's degree at Virginia Tech, one of his assignments was to design and write a computer language. Rich wrote it for the Christmas tree.
Four years ago, when Richard accepted a position teaching computer information systems at Grace College, the musical tree moved to Winona Lake.
Today, the large frame of the tree contains an intricate system of strings of six colors of lights wound around pegs in the tree, with cables, based upon color and location, running to the control box, located in the lower level of the Barnhart's house.
Each song must be transmitted to the FM radio station and individually programmed into a hard drive to drive the corresponding light controls.
The best way to view and listen to the musical Christmas tree is to park in the east parking lot of the Alpha dorm at Grace College. Alpha is the eastern-most dorm on the south side of Wooster Road. Tune your radio to FM 94.9 (new this year) to listen to the music associated with the lights. [[In-content Ad]]