See one of Iowa’s best private Christmas displays in Muscatine, Iowa
It’s almost 7 miles of strands, with 140,00+ lights and only uses two outlets. Yes, that’s correct – two outlets. That’s crazy. It sounds like something only Clark Griswold would attempt, but Kevin Hilbrant of Muscatine, Iowa who has created Candy Cane Forest, has it figured out.
Location: starts at the intersection of Cedar Street and Wood Creek Lane, just down the street from the Muscatine YMCA
In 2016, when Hilbrant moved to Muscatine, he started with 22,000 lights and has grown steadily every year. And there’s a banner in the front yard to prove it – and a plethora of spreadsheets tracking every detail. There’s a count of total lights per year, then it’s broken down by colors. Then the counts of snowmen, counts of trees, and then breakdowns of colors of trees.
Here’s even more stats:
- 141,000 total led lights
- 80 plus trees wrapped
- 36 arches
- dozen of stars, one star is 60 feet off the ground
- 250 plus feet of swagline, including over the street.
Even though he keeps meticulous stats, this isn’t a competition against others. Hilbrant wants everyone to decorate and celebrate the season. The stats are basically a competition with himself.
The lights at Candy Cane Forest are on in the 5 pm to 10 pm range every night, weather permitting. If there is snow on the roads, the lights are off.
According to an interview with The Auroran Today, Hilbrant begins “hunting” for additional lights on Dec 26th as soon as lights are on sale, visiting multiple Walmarts along the journey.
Hilbrant’s creative work is also featured in one of the promotional videos for the community of Muscatine.
