The Marvel of Mechanicsville: The Rubner Family’s Christmas Light Show
What began as a tribute to his mother grew into an elaborate Christmas light show at Bryan Rubner’s home in Mechanicsville, Iowa.
After his mother passed away in 2020, Bryan added extra Christmas lights in her memory, recalling the years he spent putting up decorations for her. By the time we featured his display in 2023, it combined thousands of individually controlled lights, custom-built decorations, and music.
The photos, videos, and figures below document that 2023 display. A schedule for the 2026 Christmas season has not yet been verified for this article.
Where is the Rubner light display located?
708 East 1st Street Mechanicsville IA
When are the lights on?
Lights are typically turned on at sunset and run until 11 pm each night, running till the end of December.
What makes this display special?
The display combines programmable lights, custom-built props, and music. Here’s how Bryan described the setup for our original 2023 feature.
Thousands of individually controlled pixels
Bryan reported approximately 75,000 pixels in the display. Each is a point of light whose color and brightness can be controlled, allowing patterns and images to move across the decorations.
Think of the yard as a collection of illuminated canvases rather than strings of lights that simply turn on and off.
Custom-built decorations
Bryan described roughly 80–90 props, many incorporating components he designed and produced with his 3D printers.
The centerpiece was a 15-foot “mega tree.” Its arrangement of lights allowed it to display changing patterns and recognizable images, including the snowman shown in the photos below.
Lights synchronized to music
For the 2023 season, Bryan described a rotation of 15 songs lasting approximately 37 minutes, with lighting sequences coordinated to the soundtrack.
At that time, visitors could tune their car radios to 87.9 FM to hear the music and a tribute to his mother. Check any current onsite signage before assuming the same frequency or playlist is still being used.
How much time did it take to create this?
For the display featured in our December 2023 article, Bryan estimated that he had invested at least 2,000 hours.
That figure helps explain what visitors were seeing: a project involving design, fabrication, wiring, programming, and testing, alongside the work of putting everything in the yard.
