At this time of year, neighborhoods around the Bay Area put on some spectacular light shows.
Inside 76-year-old Bruce Mertz’s house is a maze of electronic panels that run the 42,000 Christmas lights outside his Concord home. This panel runs Santa and his reindeer.
Bruce Mertz, says ” It allows me to check out each individual reindeer head, tail body, legs, this is a cake pan I got from k-mart and I used it to install all the switches.”
The former Air Force electrician is known around these parts as “Mr. Christmas.”
He designs everything from scratch. He figures out what he wants to see, how his characters should move and then he gets to work.
“When I was in the Air Force I had a lot of bosses and I didn’t have too much time for creativity and so when I got out I got all this creativity bottled up so I let it turn it loose,” Mertz said.
He started putting up lights in 1978. Ten years and two bouts of colon cancer later, he got serious.
He said, “I thought, I got a life and I thought I’d do something with my life and that’s when I decided I’m going to do lights.”
Each tiny bulb is hand painted for optimum color. Santa may have his workshop, Mertz has his office, dining room and garage.
“I’ll show you this computer that’s hanging on the wall,” said Bruce Mertz.
The computer runs Archie—a favorite with the children.
He tries one, tries twice, three times the charm, he goes all the way over.
His electronics are archaic and he’s not particularly organized this time of year. But he’s meticulous about his display and updates his collection each year, this year adding a Hollywood theme with a real red carpet.
Mr. Christmas said, “All my viewers are stars. You know what I mean.”
He spends about seven months either putting up or taking down lights.
About 30,000 people come by each year. All this from a man who grew up on a farm that had no electricity.
“If you told me 30 years ago, I was going to be entertaining people I would have said, entertain people? I don’t have any talents,” Mertz said.
He does have talent and it’s expensive. His electric bill is about $700 for this display, and yes-he accepts donations to pay PG&E.
With: cbs5.com
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