An elaborate and truly Griswoldian Christmas light show held annually at a southern Ontario home, drawing hundreds of spectators to the subdivision each night, won’t be going ahead this year and the family that puts it on is blaming the municipality for its demise.
The Williams clan of Kingsville, Canada’s most southerly town, is also pulling up stakes and selling the family home. They said it’s because of a new bylaw that’s too broad and too restrictive of their growing Williams Light Show – a 20-minute computer-coordinated light and music performance that ran three to four times nightly over the course of six weeks on their residential street.
“Ultimately, the bylaw was written specifically to target the William Light Show only,” said Colton Williams, who started the tradition at his grandmother Lois’s house in 2014, moving it to the family home in 2017 and adding a charitable component following her death from cancer that has led to more than $45,000 raised for research.
“The mayor and the council, they have not been supportive and they didn’t plan on being supportive, so they created this bylaw and basically limited myself to only having a display for about 10 hours a week.”
Mayor Dennis Rogers acknowledged that while the bylaw was indeed precipitated by the issues that arose from ongoing and mounting complaints from some of the Williams’ neighbours, the town was supportive of the show and did everything it could to “set them up for success” this year and in years ahead.
“We thought we found a good compromise and we’re definitely sad to see them go,” Rogers told the National Post.
“We had good intentions. We wanted them to be successful, but here we are, unfortunately. To get painted as the Grinch is obviously not a good feeling.”
The bylaw governs large holiday displays — not just Christmas light shows, Rogers emphasized — defined as “an exterior display of lights and decorations that are temporarily installed on private property that can be reasonably expected to create or has previously created nuisance impacts.”
Such displays, which require a permit, are limited to 30 days and only certain hours on Thursday through Sunday.
“Our goal was to knock a couple of days off; they can still facilitate their light show and give a bit of reprieve to some of the neighbours,” he explained.
Williams said for the hundreds of hours that go into the show, both on the exterior and the complicated programming he starts in the summer, it simply isn’t worth it. He’s also irked by the town waiting until after he’d started setting up before informing him of the bylaw.
“Setup for this show begins in early October and the town knew that, they’re 100 per cent fully aware of that,” Williams said, adding that if he’d known sooner, this year’s show would have gone ahead. “They had a long time to do this.”
Rogers countered the notion, saying the family did not respond to an invitation to discuss the upcoming bylaw with council in person and nobody was present to delegate when it was voted on and passed at the Nov. 4 council meeting.
He also said the family have rejected invitations for a fulsome discussion to answer Williams’ lengthy list of questions about the new bylaw sent via email and to which he was seeking a written response in “black and white.”
‘If you’re not happy, simply move’
Williams admitted there have always been complaints but insisted it’s only been “two or three neighbours” who have an issue with the show.
Most of the complaints have centred around traffic, garbage and parking concerns.
When the neighbours complained to the town’s previous administration, Williams alleged a bylaw enforcement officer informed them that “‘we’re not going to cater to you over the tens of thousands of people that brings joy to, so, if you’re not happy, simply move.”
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Rogers and a new council took over in the fall of 2022 and, having fielded complaints that Christmas season, met with the Williams family on more than one occasion in 2023 to find a way to keep the show going but minimize its impact on neighbours.
One of the proposed solutions involved hosting the show on public property, adjacent to the town’s annual Fantasy of Lights display at Lakeside Park.
Williams wasn’t opposed to the idea but said the town wasn’t prepared to provide the necessary support to make it happen.
“They did suggest alternative routes to move forward and not shut down the light show, but those routes weren’t reasonable by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet their terms,” noted Rogers.
A staff report into the light show that fall explored some of the neighbours’ complaints and led to a discussion at a December council meeting. A crowded chamber heard a delegation from Colton’s father Doug Williams who, after presenting a written statement, admitted the event should “maybe be on a different platform, probably, absolutely yes, but it comes with a price tag.”
His son said his father, uneasy in front of the microphone, spoke out of turn.
“I was in every private meeting and we definitely did not agree with (Rogers) that it had outgrown the neighbourhood,” he insisted.
Still, the town has held on to that admission as a linchpin in its reasoning for taking action.
Council recommended staff conduct an anonymous survey of nearby residents, with the questionnaire going out in the summer – 15 to one group closest to the Williams, 11 of which were returned, another 32 to a second cohort, 23 of which came back.
It presented the potential impacts of the light show and asked each household to identify the ones that applied to them. People farther away expressed less impact, while those in closer proximity depicted slightly more.
Williams felt the survey questioning was skewed and said when you eliminate the few neighbours who’ve long expressed grievances, the results reinforce his confidence that more neighbours support the show than oppose it.
He also alleged that at least three people who commented on his Facebook post claimed to have not received a survey despite living in one of the two zones identified by council.
Ultimately, Rogers said council couldn’t ignore the “multiple neighbours saying that they can’t enjoy their home six days a week for six weeks” and had to find a balance “between community peace of mind and supporting a great event.”
Technically, the Williams first decided to leave Kingsville after the December meeting and listed the home this July. Williams said he is building a new home in nearby Essex and has already started working with that municipality and the County of Essex to relight the show in 2026.
As for Kingsville, Rogers wants people to know his town doesn’t hate Christmas.
“Holiday cheer, holiday spirit is something that means a lot to our community and you know I would hate for there to be any messaging contrary to that.”
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