Want to check out holiday lights in your area? Find the complete guide here.

CATHY: Hey, let me ask you something. Do you make it a point to drive around and check out holiday light displays? When I was a kid in South Minneapolis, my parents would pack us up in the Ford station wagon and we'd drive around for blocks oohing and ahhing at the lights. Well, nowadays, some folks drive far out of town to see the flashiest holiday displays.

For the past six years, executive producer of local Programming at KSTP TV, Mike Marcotte, has gathered information about all of the special holiday light displays across Minnesota so you can enjoy them too. Mike is on the line right now to talk about his holiday lights display guide.

It is so much fun to talk with you again, my friend how have you been

MIKE MARCOTTE: Oh, Cathy, it's so good to hear from you. I'm fantastic. Thanks for asking.

CATHY: Good. Did your parents pile you in the car too and drive around looking at lights when you were a kid?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yes, Cathy. So we went to Holiday Lights in the Park at Phalen Park in Saint Paul. Went every year as a kid. And I think that event was volunteer driven. And then, they just ran out of steam. It takes a lot of work to put those events on. And then, that was one reason why I ended up starting this guide because I wanted more places like that.

And I kept looking for a guide that offered places that had a listing of holiday lights. I just couldn't find one. So I just decided to take it on myself and create my own guide.

CATHY: Now, I should say, you are a connoisseur of holiday lights. I mean, you have excellent taste.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. I go every year. I go and check out the big displays. Every year, those big displays are adding on new lights and more lights. And then, every year, there's different communities. A lot of communities now, these days, are doing light competitions within the community.

So for instance, Inver Grove Heights is one of the biggest communities when it comes to light competitions. And they actually asked me to judge their holiday lights competition. So all the neighbors in the community were able to put up their light display and then enter it for their chance to win some cash prizes.

So they asked me to come down and I judged it. And we went around to 26 different houses within Inver Grove Heights alone. So if you're looking for one town to go just hop in a car and just drive around and look at holiday lights, Inver Grove Heights in the Southeast Metro is the spot to go check out.

CATHY: Duly noted. Now, I got to say, because you have been a judge, what goes into making the perfect holiday light display?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Well, that's a great question. So there were three of us as judges for this event. And we had a reference guide. We looked at what was in the yard, the use of the space on the lawn, Cathy, we looked at the house, how well was the house decorated?

We did not take in reference like the use of inflatables. Some people were pro-inflatable, some people were not. We did look at blow molds and how people were using blow molds. Those are all coming back. Some people were still using the hand-carved-- the very old school hand-carved wood displays. You remember those from the '50s, Cathy, and whatnot? Those are coming back.

CATHY: Not that old, but yes.

[LAUGHING]

MIKE MARCOTTE: People are using those still and they're keeping them in such beautiful condition and it's incredible. I don't know how they store them all year. And I'm pretty sure they're painting them year after year because they probably get faded. But we're looking at the overall theme of the art too. Because I think some people just throw a bunch of stuff. They just run to the Home Depot. They throw a bunch of stuff in the yard.

But some people come up with these incredible themes that just run across the entire yard. So they can put the LED lights with the inflatables and it tells one beautiful story.

CATHY: Of course, is it synced up to music? That's always key.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yes, the music does make a big difference. But the winning house in Inver Grove Heights was synced up to music. They had this huge tree, probably 30 feet tall, that was synced up to music. And they had this display that ran behind the tree. It was all LED. It told you what song was playing while you heard the music in the car. It was incredible. I had never seen anything like it.

CATHY: Inver Grove Heights. OK, now is your holiday guide-- is it just private homes or does it also include some of the more well-known displays, say, just Bentleyville or-- isn't there Sever's-- does Sever's have a display too?

MIKE MARCOTTE: You got it. Yes. So my guide does have both the free residential displays and those big displays. I actually also have a separate post on my website, givemethemike.com, that has displays that have more than a million lights.

So if you are really looking for a million light plus display, you can go and see-- I have nine displays around the state of Minnesota in Western Wisconsin that are like Sever's, that are like Bentleyville, that are like Miracle at Big Rock and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, Sam's Christmas Village out in Somerset, Wisconsin, which is about 15 minutes East of Stillwater.

Those are all together in one clump. Many of those charge admission. So a lot of people like to know whether or not they are worth the time. That they're worth the money before they go out there. Because if you add up the tickets, just to get into the door for some of those, it could be $70 for a family of four.

CATHY: Are those displays accessible for folks who might not be able to walk very long distances and still want to see the lights?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Some of them are drive-thru only. There's a couple that I would like to point out. One would be Christmas in Color Down at Valley Fair is an awesome show. The one caveat to Christmas in Color is that it's not locally owned, where the rest of them are all kind of Minnesotan or Western Wisconsin owned and operated.

Christmas in Color is a national show that comes through. They do about eight shows across the country every year. But they do a show at Valley Fair. It's beautiful. It's about a 20 minute show. You do it from your car. You don't get out of your car at all. And it's all LEDs, it's all set to music, it's really beautiful and you pay by car.

Some of the other big shows also have drive-thru nights. So Sam's Christmas Village has drive-thru nights on Mondays and Tuesdays. Sever's down in Shakopee is only drive-thru. So that will be drive-thru seven nights a week here through the end of the year. So that would be probably your best bet for a local drive-thru show if you don't want to get out of the car.

Otherwise, if you're going to a place like Bentleyville or Sam's Christmas Village or Miracle at Big Rock, those do require a lot of walking. So just a heads up there if you have someone who isn't able to walk. And some of them, it's not even terrain, either. So just think about that before you plan your trip.

CATHY: Yeah good idea. So where do you get the displays, Mike? My gosh. I mean, you've got so many on the website. Do people send you their address and say, hey, I've got a display? Do you check out everything?

MIKE MARCOTTE: That's why I come on your show and tell people to submit their displays. Yes, so it's all word of mouth. So people are more than welcome to go on my website and submit their display. It's free to submit your display. Usually, there's a requirement. I just don't want one strand of lights. It's just like my house where I have one strand of lights that's on my patio.

I want those big displays. I also have a Facebook group called Minnesota Holiday Lights. And then, people post their displays there. So if you're just looking to find some really good displays without going through the guide because the guide gets pretty comprehensive, you can just go on that Facebook group too and there's a couple people thousand on that Facebook group sharing different holiday lights that they're seeing in their neighborhoods.

CATHY: I cannot believe-- because you are an aficionado of holiday lights-- that you would not have a fairly decent display at your place.

MIKE MARCOTTE: I have nothing, Cathy. I really do. I have a tree that's in front of my patio door and I have a planter out on my front stoop. But literally, that is-- that's all. I don't have much of anything. I'm never home.

CATHY: You let others do the decorating.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yeah, I'd rather go enjoy their lights. Yeah, I'd much rather go see their lights.

CATHY: Now, I am enchanted by holiday lights. Why are they special to you?

MIKE MARCOTTE: I think it just brings so much joy. It brings so much joy to me. People pour so much time and energy into bringing joy to so many other people too. And there's a few-- there's one that sticks out up in Albany, Minnesota of someone who runs a display for their grandmother. Their grandmother loved holiday lights. And she has since passed. But they run this display for her because they just do it in memory.

And people being so creative too. Make sure you go on my guide. There's a house in Blaine on Midway street that is incredible. The [? Carlotta ?] Christmas Light Display. It is on my Facebook page. It is on my website. At least just go check out the picture. It is insane what they're doing with these lights.

CATHY: Oh my gosh. OK, so that's on your Facebook page and your website. We'll check that out.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yeah, givemethemike.com. Or if you look me up on Facebook, it's just give me the Mike or Mike Marcotte.

CATHY: All right, I wish you the happiest of holidays, my friend. Thank you so much and we will definitely check out the holiday light guide.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY: Oh, that's my buddy Mike Marcotte talking about his sixth annual holiday lights display guide for sites all around the Twin Cities and around Minnesota, for that matter. You can find that online at give me the Mike, M-I-K-E, givemethemike.com.