Beach electrician sees the light
He’s been lighting up his neighborhood for at least 10 years. M D Electric Owner and Electrician Mike Dagnese recently completed the latest assembly of his holiday decorations, and the results are electrifying: 27,000 lights (18,000 in the tree; 9,000 lights on the house) which is equivalent to 13,000 watts in 125 hours of work.
“It’s about getting into the Christmas spirit,” said Dagnese. “I never know what I’m doing each year. I take a look at previous pictures and mix and match. The only advantage I have over everybody else is that I’m an electrician, and I can measure as I go.”
Dagnese, who lives at 3046 Shell Mound Blvd., has been mega-decorating his home since at least 1999. That’s when he began recording the event by taking pictures.
“It started off with the kids helping and helping more,” said Dagnese. “Little by little, we just got more and more into it every year. We keep buying more lights every year and adding and adding. Next thing I know, it was an addiction.”
When asked if it was a competitive thing that drove him to such a level, Dagnese denied the mild accusation.
“It’s more about the people that I get to see every year,” he said. “Everybody is driving by every night to see what’s different and how much I’ve done during the next day. The tree was just a piece of pipe in the middle with guide wires the first year. Then, I put branches on it the second year and moved it over to another area in latter years. I can’t add any more lights to it now because I’ve run out of power.”
Then there’s the fact that it tends to get windier than usual at this time of year. Inflatable decorations can either fly around or deflate if abused too much.
“The only bad part about it is that everything has to get secured from the wind,” Dagnese said. “Everything is screwed to the ground. There’s comfortably 50-100 plastic anchors in the driveway, and everything in the manger is screwed in with L brackets.”
Some of his time involved the lights he meticulously formed into “Merry Christmas” on his porch. He spent two hours on each letter and 24 hours to spell out the greeting with each light bulb connected to the next.
The Massachusetts native said that most of his lights are purchased from Gavin’s Hardware Store on the corner of San Carlos Boulevard and Kelly Road. He also hits the stores for after-Christmas half-price sales.
Of course, next December brings more expectations and possibly more lights. But, the Beach electrician is leary about topping what he created this year.
“I don’t know how,” Dagnese replied when asked if he can top his display show in 2010. “I don’t know how much more I can do.”