Bloomington, Illinois · Season 2026
Getting Ready For 2026
The lights come on Thanksgiving night, Thursday, November 26.
The show is on for the season. Tonight's show starts in:
Live Now
We're on right now. Come on by, turn off your headlights and tune in.
That's a wrap on 2026. Thank you for coming out! See you next Thanksgiving.
11 Jodi Lane, Bloomington, IL 61701 · Nightly from 5 PM · Sun–Thu until 10, Fri–Sat until 11
The show plays over a low-power radio station you can pick up from your car on our street. No radio, or does your car lag behind the lights? Stream it on your phone with PulseMesh instead. The stream is synced to the lights, so the delay goes away.
106.1 FM
Tune in as you turn onto the street. Keep the volume friendly for the neighbors.
Newer cars with digital radios can run a second or two behind the lights. Our phone stream from PulseMesh fixes that. No app needed: it opens right in your browser and keeps playing when your phone locks. It's also the way to go if you walk over.
Perfect Sync adjusts automatically for CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth, so the music lands on the beat even through your car speakers.
Stream The ShowOn a computer? Scan this with your phone.
Or open the PulseMesh app and enter code MS1P
Audio plays during show hours, starting Thanksgiving night.
The show is free, and it always will be. But if you enjoy it, we'd love your help with the reason we do it: kids in foster care right here in McLean County. They're part of our community, and we want to take care of them.
When kids are removed from their homes, it's often in the middle of the night, with nothing but the clothes they're wearing.
Compass Closet is a fully stocked closet of brand-new clothes, shoes, socks and underwear, ready the moment a child needs it. It also helps DCFS caseworkers with gift cards so they can pick up whatever else a child needs that night.
On the giving page, choose the Compass Closet 2026 fund. Your gift goes straight to Compass Church.
Every child in foster care gets to ask for exactly what they want for Christmas.
Kids write down three or four wishes: a bike, a PlayStation, Barbies, new shoes, whatever they want. People from Compass and all over our community take a tag and buy those exact gifts, so every kid opens something real and awesome that was picked just for them.
Choose the Foster Tree 2026 fund to give, or visit the Foster Tree site to pick a child's tag and shop for them.
Pull up, turn off your headlights and tune in. The show is free and runs on a loop every night of the season, so come whenever it works for you.
Opening night: Thursday, November 26
Last night: January 1
11 Jodi Lane, Bloomington, IL 61701
Enter from Ebach Street. Pull to the curb, headlights off, and enjoy the show from your car.
Get DirectionsTune your car radio to 106.1 FM. No radio? Stream the show on your phone. It's synced to the lights.
How To Listen
We live here, and so do our neighbors. A little courtesy keeps the show running every year. Enter from Ebach Street to get started.
Headlights wash out the display for you and everyone behind you. Parking lights are fine.
Keep the line moving so the cars behind you get a good view too. Watch as long as you like, then scoot up.
Our neighbors still need to get home. Please keep driveways, mailboxes and the lane clear.
There are cords, stakes and thousands of lights out there. Enjoy the show from the street or sidewalk.
Turn the radio up inside your car, not out the windows. The neighbors hear the show every night.
Kids and walkers are out, and everyone is looking at the lights. Take it easy on Jodi Lane.
11 Jodi Lane, Bloomington, IL 61701
Enter from Ebach Street, turn onto Jodi Lane, and you'll see the glow. Tune your radio before you turn in.
Every song is programmed by hand, light by light. Here are some favorites from past seasons.
Pick A Song
The show, and everything it takes to get there: concrete, ladders, controllers, late nights and a lot of help. Tap any photo to see it big.
Singing bulbs on the roofline
The roofline lit up
Santa goes blue
Under the mega tree
The mega tree on a clear night
Red and green on Jodi LaneRainbow mega tree
Arches and mini trees
Not Your Normal Lights sign
All greenReflections on a wet street
Arches in blue
Candy-cane mega tree
Rainbow arches
Late-night show
The 2019 show in the snow
The first mini mega tree
Max on the porch roof, with Violet helping from inside
Max hangs Santa on the old house
Ringing in 2020
Max (yellow) and Will (red), the Quarantunes build crew
Max programming Quarantunes, spring 2020
Max wiring a pixel panel on the living room floor
A crowd on show night
Watching from the sidewalkCars lined up for the show
Dad builds the mega tree base: rebar frame
The finished mega tree base
Building a prop frame in the driveway
Max programming the show in xLights
Max wiring the mega tree controller
The mega tree star goes on, with Will cheering it up
Millie Vanilli McPuppins, Esquire, approves
Roof crew at dusk
Topping the mega tree pole
The wind knocked over the matrix (a grid of thousands of pixels)
Mega tree frame by daylight
Taking down the arches
Testing the roof props
Max and Will anchoring the mega tree
Max watches the mega tree top go on
Will up the ladder at night
Dan from David Smith Radon Remedies on the roof peak
Dan on top of the house
Dan on the tall ladder
Dan on the roof peak
The Radon Remedies trailer on setup day
Ben, Will, Violet, Lucinda and Max in front of the show
Lucinda hands out treats to her real estate clientsThis whole show is Max's. He was 13 when he taught himself xLights, the free software that lets you program every bulb to the beat of a song, and he put up his first show in 2019 on our old house in Normal.
Each minute of music takes hours of programming, one light at a time. Max designs the layout, programs the songs and even set up the radio broadcast you tune in to. His brother Will and sister Violet are right there with him for setup and teardown, Dad builds whatever needs concrete, Mom hosts a treat-filled client appreciation night for her real estate clients, and Dan from Radon Remedies handles the roof. Every year the show gets bigger, and every year Max is already planning the next one.
Today Max is a second-year Computer Engineering student at Iowa State University, where he's on a Leadership Scholarship. His dream is to become a Disney Imagineer someday. He loves theatre, too, and would love to build complex theatrical sets and lighting designs.
Max is open to amazing internship opportunities in computer engineering. See his software, electrical and mechanical projects on his portfolio.
See Max's PortfolioSummers, Max runs Max Danger Construction, his handyman business. He builds decks, fixes things around the house and is especially good with woodworking and construction.
Send Max A MessageThe show was born at our old house in Normal. That's where Max programmed his first season in 2019, and where he built the Quarantunes show in spring 2020, when everyone was stuck at home and a drive-by light show was about the only thing to do.
In 2021 we moved across town to Bloomington. The name stuck, which makes it a little ironic now: Not Your Normal, and not in Normal either.
Year one, at our old house in Normal. Max, 13, programs his first show, starting with "Jingle Bells," and it runs right through New Year's Eve.
In the spring, with everything shut down for COVID, Max builds the Quarantunes show so people have something to drive by and enjoy. That Christmas brings a full show, our last one in Normal, and an xLights Around The World entry.
We move to Jodi Lane in Bloomington. Bigger house, bigger show: Dad pours a concrete base and the big mega tree goes up. Another xLights Around The World entry, and The Pantagraph stops by to see how 10,000 bulbs light up one house.
New songs, including "Happy" and "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas."
More than 15,000 LEDs, singing bulbs and a 30-foot cascade of light from the rooftop star.
Max is in his second year of Computer Engineering at Iowa State, and the 2026 show is in the works. See you Thanksgiving night.
Bloomington-Normal has some amazing shows synced to music. Grab some hot cocoa and make a tour of it. Tap a pin for directions.
11 Jodi Lane, Bloomington, IL 61701 · 106.1 FM
3902 Rave Rd, Bloomington
A Disney-themed show in the Eagle View neighborhood.
2815 Scarborough St, Bloomington
Pepper Ridge. Runs Thanksgiving to New Year's Eve, with a midnight countdown on the last night.
2601 Interlocken Dr, Bloomington
More than 21,000 lights, with a singing tree and snowman.
701 Pettit Dr, Hudson
A short drive north in Hudson. Nightly, late November through New Year's Day.
1020 S Morris Ave, Bloomington
A walk-through lantern and light event at the zoo on select December nights. Not synced to music.
Know a synced show we missed? Send us a message on Facebook. Stations and hours change each year, so check each show's page before you go.
See a bald guy on the roof or up a tall ladder in our photos? That's Dan. Every fall, Dan Cox, owner of David Smith Radon Remedies, shows up with his trailer and his tallest ladders and spends the day on our roof.
Dan climbs the ladders nobody else should be on, walks the peaks and helps hang the roofline, so Max can keep his feet on the ground and stay safe. He's done it for the last few years, and we can't thank him enough.
Honestly, the show would not have a roofline without Dan.
If you're in Central Illinois and need radon mitigation in Bloomington-Normal, Dan and the crew at Radon Remedies are the people we trust on our house. Tell him the light show sent you.
Visit David Smith Radon RemediesNo. The show is free for everyone, every night of the season.
Tune your car radio to 106.1 FM as you turn onto Jodi Lane. The signal is low power, so you'll only pick it up near the house. More on how to listen.
Stream the show on your phone. Many newer cars with digital radios add a delay of a second or more, so the music and lights don't match. Our stream from PulseMesh is synced to the lights, and its Perfect Sync setting adjusts for CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth. Open the stream, see How To Listen, or open the PulseMesh app (iPhone or Android) and enter code MS1P.
The songs play on a loop all night, so there is no set start time. Pull up whenever you like, watch a few songs and pull forward when you are ready.
Yes, walkers are welcome. Please watch from the sidewalk or street edge, stay out of the yard and use the phone stream with headphones or a low volume.
Usually, yes. The show is built for Illinois weather. On nights with high winds or ice we may shut down to protect the displays. Check our Facebook page for updates.
Not yet, but it's on the wish list. Send us your suggestions.
The show is always free. If you want to give, please support two Compass Church ministries for kids in foster care: Compass Closet and Foster Tree. Give online through Compass Church and choose the Compass Closet 2026 or Foster Tree 2026 fund, or take a Foster Tree tag. Gifts go straight to Compass Church. Read why we do this.
The show started at our old house in Normal, Illinois, in 2019. We moved to Bloomington in 2021 and kept the name, so now it is not your normal light show, and not in Normal either.
Max, who started it in 2019 when he was 13. He programs every song himself in xLights. Read his story.
A big thank-you to the neighbors who put up with the traffic, to everyone who drives by and honks, and to these folks for keeping the lights on.
Thank you, Dan, for climbing the tall ladders every year and keeping Max safe. No Dan, no roofline.
Visit Radon RemediesMax's mom. Every year Lucinda hosts a client appreciation night at the show and hands out treats to her real estate clients. Looking for a Bloomington-Normal Realtor®? She's the best.
Service Booster and ISC MEDIA are digital marketing firms that work with small businesses and service-based businesses throughout the country.
When he is home from Iowa State, Max builds decks, fixes things around the house and takes on woodworking and construction projects. Got a project? Send Max a message.
