Baird’s Christmas Lights continue to shine nearly 50 years

What started out as a way to make his three children happier during the holidays has snowballed into an event that has made hundreds of people’s holidays brighter for more than 45 years.

Jack Baird, the backbone of Baird’s Christmas Lights in rural Red Oak, said it all started when he threw some Christmas lights up on a fence outside their home when he and wife, Joanne’s, kids were still believing in Santa.

“Our kids were 7 or 8 at the time, and they really liked them. They wanted to know if we could put more up the next year, so we extended it around the place a little bit and the next thing we knew, cars were stopping,” Jack recalled. “We kept on expanding a little more each year.”

As the children got older, their roles in decorating grew as the displays did. With Jack being 89, he still remains very active, but leaves the majority of the decorating and repairs to the younger generations of Bairds.

Animated light displays at Bairds range from a ferris wheel, horse and carriage, combine, helicopter to a 18-foot-tall saluting toy soldier. Some of the displays have been constructed by the Bairds, others are purchased.

Although these lit displays are only viewable to the public for a few weeks out of the year, it takes months to get them ready. However, he added, LED lights and solid state controllers have been lifesavers over the older models.

“I don’t have a favorite display. I like them all, except for when they don’t work,” Jack chuckled. “This stuff hardly ever runs smooth. Since it is our hobby, we just do it, cold weather and all.”

The worst weather Baird recalls was in early 2000 when they weren’t able to have too many nightly performances due to the weather.

“Night after night we [had] to shut them down because the weather was so bad,” Jack said. “We’ve also had years where there hasn’t been any snow. The weather makes a big difference.”

These days, Jack said the lights are all set to timers, which turn on and off automatically. Once the timers go off, there isn’t anything he can do about it.

“A couple years ago, a guy pulled into our driveway and got out of the car and started pounding on our door. He wanted us to turn the lights back on. He got rather irate about it, but it is seldom we have problems like that.”

For those partaking in the well-known light display, there is a donation box to help defray the costs affiliated. Jack said they never intended to have the box, but people kept leaving money in the mailbox, which isn’t always a safe and secure place.

The numbers of cars that pass by the Bairds each year aren’t counted, but Jack suspects he’s on his third or fourth generation of families who take their children to see the lights each year. He believes the light display this year might have more meaning to people because of the past year with social distancing.

“You don’t have to get out of the car. You don’t have to do anything except drive by a couple times to see it all. It’s a pretty safe event,” Jack said.

There are people who wonder how many more years the Baird Christmas Lights will be an event, but Jack says not to worry.

“It has gotten to the point where we want to see what we can do,” said Jack. “Our sons, [Chris and Curt] and son-in-law [Scott] do the work, and as long as they want to keep doing it; it’ll keep happening.”

The last day for the lights this year is New Years Day.