Texas Christmas Lights was founded in late July 2006 by Jeff Trykoski, Jeff Womack, Bryce Kindla, Marilyn Caron and Don Teague.The idea was to bring the knowledge to a local level, that is, have local meetings and get to know the people in your area. Getting to know the people in your area, and sharing knowledge with them only helps the hobby grow. It also provides a strong network of local support during the busy holiday season. Should the need for help arise during the holidays (or any other time of year), members of the organization have a local network of people they can rely on for help.
Prior to creation of Texas Christmas Lights, members in the state of Texas knew of each other, but very few knew each other. Local meetings were non-existent, and state wide meetings were limited to the “Lonestar Mini-Plus” concept that several members came up with. Meetings were so rare there were only 3 Lonestar Mini-PLUS events from Fall, 2004 through Spring 2006.
Message boards are a popular way to share information on the Internet, but they don’t allow for the face to face communication and hands on demonstrations that only a real world meeting can provide. Let’s be honest though, everyone has information about how they do things that they just don’t want to share with the general public. Getting to know people first usually brings out the best in people, and they are more willing to share ideas. Consider also that some of the best tips come from those random conversations that you have with people. One minute you are talking sports, and the next minute you’ve just learned something about Christmas displays you didn’t know before.
Let’s not discount the value of a national organization, though. You gain the knowledge and experience of people all over the country. Yet, most of the time you are not going to be able to go over to their house to see how it’s done. You might get to meet them once a year, or even every other year. Having a local network allows enthusiasts to meet a few times a year, maybe even once a month, to discuss new ideas and build those relationships that are vital in a hobby such as this.
The goal of Texas Christmas Lights is to give people a place to meet other enthusiasts, and facilitate local and state level meetings which are vital in growing the hobby.
In August of 2007, TCL joined forces with Christmas Lights Community (CLC) in an effort to help spread the TCL concept to other states. CLC offers states free message boards and free web sites, which helps get a state organization up and running quickly. CLC is then able to help share information between state organizations, such as How-To material and educational material for workshops and local meetings.
