The brightest lights on Route 309 in Ambler are not coming from the cars on that busy road as you might expect. They are coming from the Yoast house at 1320 East Butler Pike. That is because the Yoasts’ house is decked out with around 170,000 lights, starting every Halloween and lasting until the new year. The display and coordinating event are officially titled “Light up a Life.”

One might ask what would spark such a passion for this display of holiday cheer. “We went to a neighbor’s house once and my daughter was staring at all of their lights. She kept saying ‘wow.’ Just to see her run around and her face light up, I thought, I have to do that one day.”

And so it began. Seven years ago Mr. Yoast started this incredible array of lights. He did not envision the massive popularity he has now or the massive size of the display when he first started. “I kind of didn’t really expect it. Every year we’ve added about ten to twelve displays. Every year it gets bigger. Once we got on Facebook, it just exploded.”

Yoast didn’t rest on his laurels with his popularity; instead he decided to put it to good use. For the last few years he’s been accepting donations from the thousands of visitors who come to see his home lit up. He’s donated to various local charities including Cheston Robbins Park, the ASPCA, and the Upper Dublin Library. This year the family is donating to Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Villa in Ambler to the tune of over $7500, doubling the donations from last year.

Despite the positive influence on the community, not all of its residents welcome the display. Yoast gets mixed reviews from his neighbors. “My one neighbor loves it. The neighbor next to him has a problem. I try to make it unobtrusive for them. It does get insane. Cars park half a mile away.” Yoast also mentioned that drivers become impatient, honking their horns while waiting for others to parallel park to see the display.

But that is nothing compared to an e-mail that Yoast received regarding his display. This angry resident resented fighting through traffic and felt it necessary to reproach Yoast for accepting his higher electric bill. Luckily Yoast did not let this get to him, magnanimously replying to the naysayer, “I’m just trying to spread around Christmas cheer, but I get why you’re annoyed. It does cause a lot of traffic and for some people it can be a bit of a nuisance.”

Yoast does all he can to mitigate the traffic situation by coordinating with local authorities. “We work with the township. We recently made a new policy to not have people park across the street for their own safety. Police come and do patrols as well.” Yoast understands that traffic is certainly an issue for a house that will get 3000 visitors a night during the the week of Christmas. “It’s interesting to see all of the people who come. You see all of the age groups: teens, a lot of college students, and little kids and their parents. You get people who come from all around.”

This is truly a labor of love for Yoast, and it is no coincidence that Christmas is his favorite holiday. “Yes. Absolutely. I know some people don’t like it because of the stress, but I love it.” It is not hard to see that Yoast takes on a fair amount stress every Christmas, but handles it with grace. “Normally on weekends for five weeks we put up the lights. I would say it takes about 800 man hours to put them up.” His efforts go back as far as Halloween with a precursor of eight or ten ghoulish things for trick or treaters to enjoy.

Without the support of Yoast’s family and his company, his magical display wouldn’t be possible. His son really loves the display and helps with the setup. His daughters like when their friends are over and can run around among the different parts of the display.

It is easy to understand why Yoast and his family would be worn out by the end of the Christmas season. “By January 1st we’re all tired of it. We’re ready for the lights to come down. They always come down easier than they went up.” Lucky for all of us in the surrounding area, we can look forward to next year!

To learn more and find out about donating, go to www.Acteonlightupalife.com