Bryan Nichols loves the lights, not the spotlight: The man behind Macon’s Christmas Light Extravaganza

Bryan Nichols was sitting on a bench on Poplar Street, waiting for the sun to go down and the lights to go up.

He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. Denim is his dress code on December nights in downtown Macon. He looked more like he stepped out of DQ than GQ.

A man approached him and asked if he was waiting on somebody.

“I’m waiting for the lights,’’ Bryan said. 

“Oh, you’re here to see the lights?” the man asked. 

“Yeah,’’ Bryan said, “I’m here to make sure they work.’’

The man said he was going to the nearby Taste & See Coffee Shop. Would he like for him to bring him some coffee?

“No, thank you,’’ Bryan said. “I’m good.’’ 

Bryan then rushed off to check on all the twinkling, blinking and dazzling lights stretched across five-and-a-half city blocks from the top of Poplar to Third Street.

Not long after that night, the man went up to one of the sponsors of the Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza and thanked him. He said he and his family had a great experience.

“But there was this one guy down there who was homeless,’’ the man said. “We tried to get him a cup of coffee, and he wouldn’t take it. And then, when we were standing in line at the coffee shop, he came in, walked around, went behind the counter and got his own coffee.’’

The sponsor had to smile.

“That guy isn’t homeless,’’ he said. “He doesn’t just help with the lights. He DOES the lights. And he is the owner of that coffee shop.’’

Bryan Nichols – the guy I call St. Nichols – loves the lights but not the spotlight. He’s more of a backstage dude who prefers to blend in with the scenery.

He is content to be hanging lights in a cherry picker up in the trees. Or hunkering down on the ground with wires and conduits. He doesn’t mind getting dirt under his fingernails.  

“I don’t try to impress anybody,’’ he said. “I can be out there and nobody knows. I believe in being who I am all of the time.”

Bryan is the mastermind, stage manager and technical engineer of what has become the city’s largest annual event – a month-long celebration that brings nearly every cross-section of the community together.

The Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza attracted 850,000 folks last year. That is 300,000 more than the attendance at the Georgia National Fair in Perry. It had an economic impact of $6.8 million, which is more than the $6.1 million from the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Who would have ever dreamed that a once run-down Poplar Street would become a Yuletide glow show visible from outer space?

“This was never meant to be about me,’’ he said. “This was an idea I had. I didn’t plan on doing it. I just happened to be the one who was going to make it a reality.’’

It takes two months to put up the lights and another month to take them down. So he relishes the 38 days he has to watch all the magic.

I sat down and talked with Bryan last Thursday afternoon. Always humble, he never mentioned he was going to be featured that night on ABC World News Tonight’s “America Strong” series with host David Muir. The headline was “Georgia man’s ‘One Million Lights’ display brings festive spirit downtown.”

Instead, Bryan was more excited to talk about his wife LeAnn’s 50th birthday. He was taking her out to dinner before returning incognito to watch the lights and the real star of the show … the people.

A few years ago, Bryan and LeAnn began designating a day between Christmas and New Year’s to be tourists in their hometown. It has now become an annual tradition. They check into a local hotel, pretend to be visitors and start asking around about  what there is to do in Macon.

Last year, they stayed at Hotel 45 and walked to Bryan’s coffee shop to stand in line like everyone else. They were waiting to have their photograph taken inside the giant ornament at the corner of Poplar and Third Streets when a young man in front of them dropped to a knee and proposed to his girlfriend.

It was not the first time Bryan had seen this happen. Nor will it be the last. He said he witnesses about a half dozen engagements every year. And, since he cannot be ubiquitous, he has no way of knowing about all the marriage proposals that take place on the carriage rides or beneath the mistletoe.

Last year, he was helping look for a bracelet someone had lost  when he witnessed a couple getting engaged.

 He walked over and asked if he could take a “selfie’’ with them.

“You are my first engagement of the year,’’ he told them.

“Who are you?” they asked.

“I am the guy,’’ he said, smiling, “who does the lights.’’