Brothers plug in holiday light show near Kelso, Mo.

KELSO, Mo. -- A year and more than 50,000 lights later, Brooks and Brandon Clark debuted their first holiday light show Thursday.

Putting on a multicolored light show around the home near Kelso had been a goal for the Clarks for a few years. The brothers were inspired by a light show in Cape Girardeau, which started their online search for ideas.

"We looked at a lot of ideas on the Internet and put the best ones together for our own." Brooks Clark said.

The day after Christmas last year, the brothers bought up as many light sets as possible.

They worked off and on all year to rewire their mother's home so it could withstand the higher electrical load. Because of the high electricity requirements, they cannot turn on all the lights at the same time. The lights of just one color can take up to 150 amps -- the average home uses 200 amps.

They set the light show to music, breaking down the songs to 20th-of-a-second intervals and programming which lights would be lit up each interval. It took the brothers eight to 10 hours to set the lights to one song. In total, there are eight light shows, which include Christmas songs such as "Christmas Eve in Sarajevo," "Wizards in Winter," "Carol of the Bells," "Music Box Dancer," "Silent Night" and "God Rest Ye Gentlemen."

The Clarks tuned a low-power radio transmitter to broadcast to the top of the hill that viewers will be parked along. Viewers need to set their car radios to 87.9 FM to hear the music.

The light show debut was at 7 p.m. Thursday, and hundreds of people had viewed the display by 8:30 p.m., Brooks Clark said.

There will be shows 6 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 6 to 10:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday until the end of the year. The light show is on County Road 208, on the right just before the Knights of Columbus hall when coming from Scott City.

"We did it for the kids and thought this was the best way to give a gift to the whole community," Brooks Clark said.

The brothers knew some about electronics before they started, but they said that with the help of their grandfather, they have learned a lot they will put to use in the future. They have already started planning to expand next year's show, with more songs, lights and special effects.