Listen to the interview here!
Tim Macrina
Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project, which is brought to you by Berks County Living magazine. Today I am with Tim Macrina. Tim, can you take a moment and introduce yourself?
Tim Macrina: Sure. My name is Tim Macrina. I live in West Reading. I’ve lived there for the last eight years. My wife and I have been married for eight years. We have two kids, Derek and Molly, and I guess my claim to fame is what I call Christmas on Sunset, a very, very large Christmas light display in West Reading.
Toni: Wow! Where can people see this Christmas display?
Tim: It’s on Sunset Road. The exact address is 309 Sunset, but you really can't miss it. It’s about two blocks away from the Reading Hospital. Just drive down Sunset and look for the house with tens of thousands of lights on it.
Toni: That is very cool. Welcome to the Get Inspired! Project. Let’s go into the very first question of the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Tim: Inspiration for me is getting an idea from doing something, seeing something – just some sort of experience, and then taking that idea and just executing on it. I like to do things over the top.
Toni: Really??
Tim: Just a little bit.
Toni: So is this an idea that you’ve come up with that you take over the top, or are you inspired by others? How does that inspiration work for you?
Tim: When I was a kid, I always liked looking at Christmas lights. My parents would drive us around. It was something to do. There were five kids in my family, so any kind of free entertainment was always good for the family. I was always pushing my parents to put up more Christmas lights. They didn’t have the same kind of enthusiasm that I did, but they did some. Seeing the Arner’s house over in Exeter for years, just covering it. Seeing movies like Christmas Vacation where they covered the entire house inspired me to start to do what I do right now.
Toni: So it really was an idea that you had and you just went completely with inspiration turbocharged.
Tim: Yes. I started out, I think the first year was six years ago–it was my son’s first Christmas. He was two months old. I started out with just over 11,000 lights, which was big at the time, and after that year I got such a great response there was an article in the Reading newspaper, WFMZ came out–it was great. I said, “Alright, now I have to just outdo myself.” I think the next year we went up to about 30,000, and last year we topped out just over 37,000 lights.
Toni: Oh my goodness. The second question seems a little redundant, but how do you put inspiration like that into practice in Berks County? Obviously, it’s what you do with your Christmas display as an example, but can you give us more information around that? Maybe think of it like this–what’s happened because of that?
Tim: When we first moved on Sunset Road, there were a few houses that had some lights up. Just your normal neighborhood. Nothing too fancy. Over the last few years, more and more people have put out lights. Each neighbor directly on each side of me really stepped it up. A neighbor two doors down builds some pretty elaborate stuff. My brother moved in down the street, and he’s starting to get into it. I’ve just seen my street start to take it to the next level, and it’s been a great inspiration. It’s pushing me to do more and more.
Toni: Oh boy–anything you want to share?
Tim: This year we are looking to move. We’re outgrowing the house, so this year we’ve toned it down just a tiny bit, but we’re trying to make up for it in some other ways. You’ll see, once I’m done. It’s still a project under construction right now.
Toni: Okay. So you had this idea, you put it into practice by not only inspiring your street, but what a ripple effect you have going on, because now you also inspire people who are driving up that are looking at your home, looking at other homes, there’s a friendly competition maybe going on, and there’s inspiration and chatter about what you’ve done that you probably aren’t even aware of what’s said.
Tim: Definitely. I have a Facebook page, so I get a lot of comments, and people say, “I can't miss it.” People tell their friends. I’ve been known as “that guy”–I meet someone and they said, “Oh my gosh–you’re that guy–that guy in West Reading with the house!”
Toni: Oh my gosh. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Tim: Of course my children do and my wife. They give me lots of ideas. I’m always getting inspiration from my kids. My son will always say, “Dad, it would be neat if we did this,” or, “Dad, it would be neat if we did that.” Sometimes his ideas are way over the top.
I’m also inspired by my community. Like I said, the people on my street just taking the time. Sometimes it’s tough to get out there when it’s cold out or rainy out and drag out the lights, untangle them, and put them up, but it’s great to see people get into the holiday spirit.
Toni: So you are moved and inspired by how they watched your idea, and now they’re building their own.
Tim: Right.
Toni: That’s pretty cool. Can you give me an example of something that might have happened recently that you thought, “Wow, that’s inspiring–that’s pretty cool.”
Tim: There’s an older gentleman across the street, and recently his wife passed away. He still gets out there and puts out his lights and does his part. We all try to help him. He’s got to be into his mid to late 80s, and he still gets out there and does his thing, even if his body doesn’t really want to.
Toni: That’s because it’s important to him.
Tim: Yes.
Toni: He doesn’t want to be left out, and it probably reminds him of his own life and so forth. That is inspiring. What would you want your legacy to be?
Tim: Of course, I want to be known as a great dad, a great husband, just an overall good person. I’ve already developed my legacy as “that guy”–the guy who has “the house.” It’s pretty neat. It’s kind of my little claim to fame, I guess, so I would consider that my legacy.
Toni: I just want to take that just a little bit further. “That guy” doesn’t tell me anything. What is “that guy” who does all “those lights” on “that street”–what does that legacy mean?
Tim: Just somebody who takes the time to brighten up people’s spirits. I think in this day and age, people need it, and just being that person that makes everything bright.
Toni: I love it! Thank you very, very much for being part of the Get Inspired! Project.
Tim: Thank you.
Tim Macrina
