The Christmas Lights of Ballplay, Alabama.

If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Gadsden, Alabama then you know about these lights. The lights in Ballplay. Ballplay is a small community, not really famous for anything except their one restaurant (Beans and Greens, how Southern is that?), and these lights. These were built by an elderly man in his spare time. He started sometime in the mid-90s. He died in the early 2000s and his kids decided to carry on the tradition. Keep in mind while looking at these that everything moves. These are not just stationary lights. And most of them are big. Bigger than my six-foot tall husband kind of big. These are really amazing for a little country house in the middle of nowhere. And also, please forgive the poor quality. I was snapping shots with our little PlaySport video camera and the still picture features are limited, plus it was dark and everything was moving.

The view as you approach.

One of my favorite things, the Elephant. The tail swings back and forth, the head turns from side to side, and the trunk curls and uncurls.

Huge plane. The propellers turn.

Alabama football that spins.

Small plane with a parachute that goes up and down.

Dinosaur! His head and neck move from side to side, and his mouth opens and closes.

Here's Danny beside the elephant to get an idea how big they are.

Rawr.

Giant snowman who turned from side to side.

I'm not sure what this is. It looked like a jellyfish on top of a tree. But it spun.

Carousel that spun and the horses moved up and down. It's theme park related!

It's hard to distinguish, but this is a butterfly whose wings flapped.

Again, kind of hard to distinguish because of all the lights around it, but it's a man being chased by a bull. The man runs and the bull's head moves up and down.

This is a tree that spins and there are little wooden people inside playing instruments.

A fish chasing a bug. The bug's legs move and the fish's fins move and its mouth opens and closes.

Here's an elf that climbs up and down a rope. Ally was amazed. It doesn't just slide up and down, its arms and legs really move in a climbing motion.

Some kind of egg-shaped thing that spins with more wooden people inside.

Camel. His head moves back and forth and his mouth opens and closes.

Auburn football. It spins.

Sea turtle! Its mouth opens and closes and its legs swim.

Mega Croc! Its head moves back and forth and its mouth opens and closes.

Tree. The inside tree spins one way and the outside tree spins the opposite way.

Helicopter. The propeller spins.

Huge rainbow and Noah's Ark. This was the only thing that didn't move in some way. But the size of the rainbow was impressive on its own. It was at least 10-12 feet tall, if not taller.

These are small planes that spin.

Random spinning wheel.

Santa on the roof of the house. He waved and turned from side to side, and the reindeer's legs moved.

Ferris wheel that spins.

A man riding a unicycle on a wire. This was very impressive to me, how he got this to balance perfectly and move back and forth at the same time.

And finally, this ladder was Cammy's favorite thing. There was a little wooden person on it, and when the ladder spun, the person flipped all the way down to the bottom.

It's interesting to see these types of light displays- as here in the middle of the desert, well, we've got NOTHING. Just a few Christmas palms, and the occasional tacky sled, but nothing as over the top as that!

I'm just replying so that I can say "Ballplay."

Tee-hee!

Cool! I wish I had the mechanical aptitude to build some of those types of things. Alas....

Thanks for sharing!

Looks fantastic. Too many people would complain if that were in the UK!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

I enjoy insane, over-the-top Christmas displays like this--especially where they're not in my neighborhood.

I enjoy insane, over-the-top Christmas displays like this--especially where they're not in my neighborhood.

I definitely would not want to live next to this house.

I enjoy insane, over-the-top Christmas displays like this--especially where they're not in my neighborhood.

 

I definitely would not want to live next to this house.

The complaints by the neighbours would be like those of the offices next to CGA...

Thanks for the update. The only over the top ones around me are religious (sponsored by a church). I much prefer elephants and megacrocs!

Thanks for the update. The only over the top ones around me are religious (sponsored by a church). I much prefer elephants and megacrocs!

This one only has a couple of religious things, like the Noah's Ark, and a manger scene that had Mary rocking the cradle, as well. But that's it. The rest is the totally random things, most of which are not Christmas/Holiday related at all.

They also have several donation boxes around the yard. I can only imagine how much the power bill is to run these things!

I remember a neighborhood in Ceres, California, not far from my hometown of Patterson, that was famous for its Christmas displays. This street was so popular that you couldn't drive through. You had to park your car elsewhere and walk it. But there was one family that refused to play along. Everyone else on that street had enough lights on their houses to create an artificial aurora borealis, but this one family didn't even turn on their porch light.

I remember a neighborhood in Ceres, California, not far from my hometown of Patterson, that was famous for its Christmas displays. This street was so popular that you couldn't drive through. You had to park your car elsewhere and walk it. But there was one family that refused to play along. Everyone else on that street had enough lights on their houses to create an artificial aurora borealis, but this one family didn't even turn on their porch light.

I bet that family was not very popular with the rest of the street.

My guess is that they were Jehovah's Witnesses.

My guess is that they were Jehovah's Witnesses.

Aah, lol. Funny story: Did a play with a guy who was a Jehovah's Witness. He came to pick something up from me at my office one day after Christmas that year, and totally forgetful me asked him how his holiday was! Oops. He said, "Oh, it was just another day for us." Insert foot in mouth.

We have a few around my neighborhood that go over the top with lights. Not the creations like this guy made but thousands of lights. The one guy I know uses over half his garage to store his Christmas display stuff. He has to park his cars outside.

I think Cedar Fair should call these people when they want to add lights to Dinosaurs Alive!