Where Are They Now?
Homeschool Student Spotlight:
Nicholas Burlarley, designer of Bridgeport’s Brightest Lights
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What is Bridgeport’s Brightest Lights?
It’s a free Christmas light show people enjoy coming to each year!
When did it all begin?
I’ve always loved Christmas lights. I remember seeing another local display and thinking, “That’s awesome; I want to learn how to do it!” I already knew some coding and programming, so I got right to work. The first year, I couldn’t get it working in time, but when I was twelve years old, I had it up and running. We went public in 2020, so this is our sixth season!
How did you raise the funds to get started?
I spent the whole summer going around the neighborhood, doing small tasks and mowing lawns for those who have a harder time moving around. My parents also helped me out a little bit, but most of the starting funds came from my summer work.
When you first started, did you have any idea how big it would get over the next several years?
I wanted it to grow but didn’t think it would actually be possible. My parents were supportive of the idea, but they were also skeptical of how far we’d be able to go with it. But, as the display expanded each year, we all fell in love with it, and my dad helped me out more and more. I never dreamed it would get this big!
Where did you learn how to engineer your own interactive light display?
When I was eight years old, my mom brought me to a simple coding class at the library. It was nothing advanced, but I fell in love with it. Since then, I’ve learned other ways to code things. When I came up with the light show idea, I spent hours watching YouTube tutorials. The combination of my prior coding knowledge and the tutorials helped me put it all together.
How does it work?
I start by uploading the music to a computer software program which gives me a three-dimensional visualizer. This enables me to see how the house will look and track progress without having to have lights set up all year round. It takes me about eight months to program each show, so I typically get started in April. Once complete, I upload the program files to a Raspberry Pi, a very small computer that’s powerful enough to run the whole show. This main computer controls everything and talks to the controllers I made just for running the special lights. These controllers read the files I programmed and send the data to each light in the show.
What’s your schedule?
We always start on Black Friday and run throughout the month of December. We normally host two special events, the first being a food drive for the Bridgeport Food Pantry to raise goods and funds for helping families through the Christmas season. We have a bin out front where we continue collecting food donations every night, and we’ll make another delivery to the food pantry in January to help families in the new year.
Our second event is the “Christmas Eve Eve Special” on December 23. We stand outside with free hot cocoa, popcorn, and candy canes. As we like to say, you can come “get goodies with a light show.”
Check out our Facebook page, “Bridgeport’s Brightest Lights,” for hours and more detailed event information.
How can people support the cause?
We sell LED wands that sync to the light show for $10 apiece. They turn on with a simple switch and are immediately programmed to sync up to the light show, so you can enjoy your own mini light show in your car while you’re watching the full display through the window. All proceeds, as well as any donations received, go to our local food pantry. If you’d like to donate, you can send us a message on our Facebook page.
Would you tell us about your homeschool journey?
My first year of homeschooling was second grade. I had lots of problems in public school and often ended up in the principal’s office. They wanted me to transfer to a different school, which would have meant a 45-minute bus ride, so my parents decided to do a trial of home education for a year or two to see if things got better, and then they planned to go back to the public school system. Once we got started, we loved it, and it was going so well that we just wanted to keep going forever! I’m eighteen now and will be graduating this coming spring.
Which LEAH chapter do you belong to?
We’re members of Oswego Homeschool Association (OHA) and CNY Sports LEAH.
What’s your favorite part of home education?
I appreciate the extra time it’s given to my family. In public school, I used to sit in the building all day, but homeschooling has saved me lots of time. I can finish my school day sooner and customize my education to reflect my interests, such as computer programming and the light show for our community. My parents have always taken my siblings and me wherever they go, and we’ve enjoyed lots of field trips together. We can always just do school in the car or catch up the next day. I can say with full confidence that this light show would not have happened if I hadn’t been homeschooled—and a lot of other things wouldn’t have happened, either.
What are your future plans?
I’m planning to go to college to study Electrical Engineering Technology. Currently, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is my top choice, but I’m looking at other options, as well.
Do you plan to continue Bridgeport’s Brightest Lights into the future?
We’ve had many conversations about this, and unfortunately, this year will be the last big light show for a while. With college just around the corner, I won’t have the bandwidth for such a large extra project. I’ll probably still put Christmas lights up each year, but if you want to catch the full show, make sure you stop by this month!
What advice do you have for other students with a dream to improve their community?
The biggest thing is just getting started. That’s something I didn’t do for a while. I had all these ideas, but I had an equal amount of doubts. So, I would encourage you to come up with a creative way to improve your community (it doesn’t have to be fully original, by the way—no need to reinvent the wheel, as they say), and then just get started with your idea. It can be something simple that lots of people have done before, but you could easily customize it for your own community without spending weeks just thinking about it.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’d just like everyone to know that the show is completely free. You’re more than welcome to come park in front of the house and tune into the radio station on the sign. Our main goal is just to give everyone some extra Christmas cheer this season—that’s why we started, and that’s still our reason.
Nicholas Burlarley dropping off donations at the Bridgeport Food Pantry.
Bridgeport’s Brightest Lights.
