Tacky Lights Tour History

How did the Tacky Lights Tour begin? How long has it been going on? Writing for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1996 Bill McKelway offered his readers a brief history of a seasonal tradition in Richmond since 1986, when the Tacky Lights Tour was launched by its creator, Barry “Mad Dog” Gottlieb, who was a deejay at […]

November 23, 2007; 12:23 AM • by FTRea

How did the Tacky Lights Tour begin? How long has it been going on?

Writing for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1996 Bill McKelway offered his readers a brief history of a seasonal tradition in Richmond since 1986, when the Tacky Lights Tour was launched by its creator, Barry “Mad Dog” Gottlieb, who was a deejay at a local radio station at the time.

…His fondest memories will be of the outpouring of interest when the tacky house tour began 10 years ago. “I figured I could rent one of those trolleys for about 15 people,” said Gottlieb. “That filled up right away. Then I rented a bus and that filled up in an hour. Then I rented another bus and that filled up.”

At one house decked out in blue lights, tour members spontaneously broke into Elvis’ ‘Blue Christmas.’ At another house, they marveled at the lifelike figures on the roof wrapped in lights. “After a while, we realized that the lifelike figures were real people,” Gottlieb said, laughing.

Of course, the tour of way lit up houses still goes on, although Gottlieb moved to San Francisco years ago. Now it is a tradition, much promoted by the establishment media. Click here to see the RT-D’s guide to the main attractions this year.

Back in 1989, or maybe it was 1990, yours truly was one of five judges for Mad Dog’s annual stunt. We rode around in a limousine drinking beer and so forth, looking at a list of houses made up to resemble amusement parks, or perhaps houses of ill fame in a Fellini film.

I still remember the all-blue-lights house McKelway mentioned in his piece (which is a good read). It was by far the smallest house on the list. To me it was a little creepy, too, so I stayed in the limo while the others went in.

Gottlieb greatly enjoyed meeting the people, getting their story and so forth. Some he already knew because he saw them every year, others were new. At the end of the tour we judges voted and may have gone to a bar.

After that night I decided that stretch limos were just not for me, and I’m happy to say I haven’t been in one since.

November 23, 2007 12:23 AM 0