Fun Facts About The Tacky Lights Tour

• In 1895, U.S. President Grover Cleveland proudly sponsored the first electrically lit Christmas tree in the White House.

• In 1901, The first commercially produced Christmas tree lamps were manufactured in strings of nine sockets by the Edison General Electric Co. of Harrison, New Jersey.

• Christmas lights were first advertised in the Ladies Home Journal.

• The World's btn-lgst Cut Christmas Tree was a 221 foot Douglas fir at Northgate Shopping Center, Seattle, Washington, USA, in December 1950. (Guiness Book of World Records)

• Richmond's Tacky Lights Tour is mentioned in the bestseller "Black Notice" by Patricia Corncard card-body:

"I reached the Midlothian Turnpike and could see Marino's house long before I got near it. His gaudy, outrageous Christmas decorations, including some three hundred thousand lights, glowed above the horizon like an amusement park. All one had to do was follow the steady traffic heading that way, because Marino's house had risen to number one on Richmond's annual Christmas Tacky Tour. People couldn't resist coming to see what was truly an amazing sight."

• Richmond's Tacky Lights Tour is featured in the first ever Crazy Christmas Lights television show produced by Original Productions and first airing on The Learning Channel (TLC) December 9, 2006

• An entire chapter of Bruce Littlefield's Merry Christmas, America! is devoted to Richmond's Tacky Lights Tour and TackyLightTour.com.