A Hamilton Township man has paid tribute to front line workers with his Halloween display.
Kelly Elchuk and his wife Sandra live at 7187 Oak Ridges Drive just east of County Road 28 in Hamilton Township.
For the last four years Kelly has spent countless hours setting up Christmas displays in front of the family home.
But with this year being very different with COVID-19, Elchuk wanted to pay tribute and give thanks to the front line workers during the pandemic.
The couple’s daughter is one of those front line workers. Kelsey Elchuk is a Registered Nurse who works at Northumberland Hills Hospital. She was the inspiration for this Elchuk says. Just speaking of her brings tears to her father. Elchuk wanted to give thanks to everyone who is doing heroic work for the protection of others.
“I wanted to do something for frontline workers and I people to get out of the house.”
Elchuk decided to set up the display complete with approximately 5,000 led lights for Halloween.
There are seven songs in the display which runs for approximately 30-minutes.
The typical songs are there for everyone to tune into on their radio station (89.9 FM) and enjoy when they sit in their vehicles. Thriller by Micheal Jackson, Ghostbusters and of course Metallica’s Enter Sandman, but the first two songs are dedicated to front line workers.
“Thank U Frontline” is a cover song originally sang by Alanis Morrissette, but reworded by Chris Mann and the second song is by Natalie Merchant called King and Generous.
Reaching out to frontline workers, Elchuk typed in each name that is displayed during the first two songs.
During the first song, a Canadian flag is displayed along with the name and during the second song a heart is displayed.
“Thanks to all first responders and frontline workers,” is also displayed during the first town songs.
Wednesday, October 28, 2020 was the first time the couple who were joined by their neighbours got to see the set of music.
Elchuk said he was “very happy” after seeing the display of lights.
The displays are somewhat of a passion for Elchuk.
After retiring from GM as an electrician last year, the one thing he asked for was a 3-D printer.
“I reached out to a person in the US for clips for the LED lights and for 600 clips he wanted $1,000.”
“So for January I bought the printer and printed off 1,500 clips which took me about three-and-a-half months.
Each of the songs has about 20 to 100 hours of computer programming with the lighting effects.
Elchuk says each of the approximately 5,000 lights can be switched to any colour so it takes time and patience.
“You have to be in the mood because you’re taking music and trying to break it down to get it to match.”
“I love doing it. I love music. I came up through with electronics and it all fit together at the right time.”
The display will be active from Thursday to Sunday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
