They come by the thousands to see Frosty the Snowman, a 90-foot tree draped in decorative lighting and what is believed to be the world’s longest tunnel made of twinkling light bulbs.
The Soddy-Daisy Christmas lights show, produced by NoogaLights, has become one of the top holiday attractions in the area, right up there with the Enchanted Garden of Lights at Rock City.
John Haustein, the 49-year-old owner of the NoogaLights company, never grows tired of watching people do U-turns on Highway 27 to visit the drive-through Christmas light attraction, which is situated on a peninsula that juts into Soddy Lake.
He has even tried to get the light tunnel certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest, but negotiations were stalled on a technicality, he says.
He estimates that last year, 50% of the people who paid $20 per carload to enter the light show were impulse customers who were coaxed off the highway by the illuminated wonderland. People come by the truckloads — $20 covers everybody you can fit in the bed. There are also patrons who make the loop alone with their dogs, and the dogs seem to be mesmerized by the lights. Once inside, you can circle around as many times as you please.