As a boy, Kyle Speegle did everything he could to stay on Santa’s Nice List. He willed himself to go to bed early on Christmas Eve, believing that if he wasn’t asleep when the jolly old elf got close, he and his reindeer would fly on by. He watched Christmas programs like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer every December, and once, when he was six, he even spotted Rudolph’s nose glowing like a crimson star, which catapulted him back into bed. (His vow to retire early had woefully gone awry.)
Kyle’s mother made Christmas candies and treats, while his father decorated the eaves of their house with a reasonable number of lights. The holiday season was the definition of joy. Especially on the nights when Kyle, his older brother, and his older sister went with their parents to see the lights.
“As a kid, I remember going with my family to look at Christmas lights and being fascinated anytime we found a house where the lights seemed to ‘dance’ with music,” Kyle said. “Back in the 1980s, the technology was pretty simple—the lights basically plugged into a box that turned them on and off with the beat—but as a kid, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.”
Those with happy holiday memories often try to duplicate that magic for their children. That was the case for Kyle, who shares sons Gus and Aaron with his wife, Alicia Agent, and lives in Fort Smith. “I decorated our house with regular, static Christmas lights in 2019. That Christmas, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw an ad for synchronized Christmas lights. It brought back that fascination I had as a kid, and I started wondering if I could actually do something like that myself.
“Then COVID hit. Around May 2020, I started researching synchronized light shows and watching YouTube videos to teach myself how everything worked. The timing almost seemed perfect. Everything was being canceled, people were stuck at home, and families couldn’t do many of the things they normally enjoyed together. I thought that by Christmas, maybe I could give people one thing to look forward to.”
Alicia said Kyle kept his idea to himself. “He really didn’t tell me his plan, but there were signs. He just started spending more time in the garage and making various trips to Home Depot. We had a newborn and a pandemic to manage, and I thought, well, maybe he needs this hobby. I remember, in the beginning, thinking our yard looked like Creekmore Park. Now we’ve practically got a theme park.”
Building a light show takes work, research, and innovation. Kyle built stands from PVC pipe, used sandbags as anchors, and bought corrugated plastic from specialty suppliers. “During my first show, I bought Christmas trees from A-to-Z Variety, removed the regular lights, and rebuilt them with pixels so I could incorporate them into the synchronized show. Even the connections are specialized.”
He talked about his progress at his coffee shop and café, Moka Joe’s, and created a Facebook page, Extreme Light Shows. On opening night, snowflakes shimmied, Christmas trees pulsed with colored lights, and signs with holiday greetings flashed to music that Kyle programmed.
The first night, he stood in his yard and watched. “Part of that was because after spending so much time building it, seeing everything finally working together was honestly mesmerizing. But I was also constantly watching the different lines and elements to make sure everything was running correctly.”
His first display contained 3,000 pixels; this year’s will have 40,000.
While it’s rewarding, it’s not always easy. That was especially true in 2022, when Kyle’s formerly robust health declined, which eventually led to open-heart surgery in November. He didn’t come home until December.
“While I was lying in a hospital bed unable to be there myself, my family stepped in. If something went wrong, they helped troubleshoot it and kept the show running. Going through something like that changes your perspective. You realize pretty quickly that your health isn’t guaranteed, and neither is the amount of time you have with the people you love.”
By then, he’d also added a Halloween display that continues today. It was, and still is, both a light show and a way to honor his late mother, whom he’ll never stop missing. “Growing up, Halloween wasn’t just Halloween in our family; it was Mom’s birthday, so we always celebrated big.”
Kyle has no way to measure how many people see his light displays. He guesses between 1,500 and 4,000 vehicles participated last year. Alicia sees evidence of the show’s success in a different way. “If I don’t time my after-work commute just right, I may end up having to circle the block and wait for an opening to get to my garage. We’ve even eaten takeout in the car before because we had to wait in line.”
Kyle’s gotten greeting cards from some of his youngest visitors. One boy even told him that he was going to grow up and make his own light show for Jesus’s birthday. Kyle also gets Facebook messages as early as September asking when he’ll be installing the display because their kids like to watch the process. In case you’re wondering, he begins work on November 1.
The Christmas show runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly, from Thanksgiving night through New Year’s Day. If Kyle ever feels let down, it happens in the days after Christmas, when traffic diminishes. Still, the show goes on. When the holidays end, it takes Kyle another month to deconstruct and pack everything away. By April, he’s back to planning for his next light show.
Alicia doesn’t mind. Kyle is like an elf who’s added so much sparkle to their other traditions. The family watches movies like Christmas Vacation on repeat. By now, the boys could turn the sound down and deliver the actors’ lines. And their dog is named Clark, after the movie’s main character. When Christmas morning arrives, Alicia describes it this way. “Loud. Chaos. Over in three minutes.”
Time moves differently in retrospect. Those three ecstatic Christmas minutes will morph into memories that multiply with every passing year. And memory is at the heart of everything her husband does. “I hope as my boys get older, they begin to understand that the light show is about much more than putting 40,000 pixels in the yard,” Kyle said. “I hope they see the joy it brings people, the traditions families have created around it, and the love behind doing something simply because it makes somebody else happy. You never know what somebody is going through when they pull up in front of our house. Some families have had a rough year. Some kids have had a rough year. If for a few minutes they can sit together in their car, listen to the music, watch the lights, and experience some joy, then that’s what it’s all about.”
Kyle and Alicia have accomplished a lot. Both graduated from UAFS, and earlier this year, Moka Joe’s received the UAFS Alumni-Owned Business of the Year award. This year, Alicia, the marketing and communications manager for Baptist Health, earned her master’s in public health from Arkansas Colleges of Health Education. They believe in showing their sons the rewards of hard work and education, but they also believe that kindness and light are their legacy.
It’s not surprising that little Kyle Speegle, with his nose pressed against the window late one Christmas Eve, scanning the skies for Santa’s sleigh, grew up to be one of the Big Guy’s right-hand men. He was the kid destined to light up our lives.
Make this Fort Smith holiday tradition part of your Christmas season! Watch thousands of synchronized lights dance to music from the comfort of your car.
8005 Bridgewood Lane | Fort Smith
Thanksgiving Night – New Year’s Day
6 p.m.–10 p.m. nightly
Find Extreme Light Shows on Facebook for updates and show information.
