Listen to the Lights Turns into a Community Fundraiser for Local Cardiac Care
Published Monday, February 9, 2026
Jayme (James) Hill has raised over $3,000 for local cardiac care in the last six years of Listen to the Lights.
Listen to the Lights quickly became a Christmas tradition in Thunder Bay since Jayme (James) Hill launched it in 2007.
Starting every December 1, you'll see a line of cars waiting to see – and hear! – Jayme's latest creations at 753 N. Syndicate Ave. About 8,400 individual coloured LEDs flicker and strobe and change colour to the music. It's a Broadway Christmas extravaganza in lights, and Jayme's house is the stage.
The stars of the show are four Christmas bulbs. Blink, Twinkle, Shimmer, and Shine talk to the drive-by audience on 92.3 FM before breaking into Christmas songs. A new character, Doug the Singing Tree, stepped onto the stage for Christmas 2025.
“I synchronize their mouths to sing along with the lyrics, like a cartoon,” Jayme said. “The kids love it.”
Jayme spends up to 10 months of the year programming the lights to change in time with the music. His graphic design skills come in handy as he synchronizes everything from the glittering 16-foot snowflake on the roof of his house (perhaps the biggest snowflake in Thunder Bay!) to Doug's and the light bulbs' moving lips. Each segment is a mini-animation drawn with lights.
“It's crazy – a three-minute song takes about 40 hours to program,” Jayme said. “But it's a kick, and it keeps me out of trouble. My wife always knows where I am.”
The “wildly addictive” hobby as he calls it took on a new dimension in 2017 when Jayme started experiencing breathing problems. After a series of tests, doctors found that one of his arteries – the widowmaker – was 85% blocked. He got in for angioplasty immediately, thankfully avoiding a heart attack. Jayme felt like a new man after getting his stent.
“It was night and day,” Jayme said. “I could run up the stairs without losing my breath. I thought, ‘This is great!'”
His close call made him think of his father and grandfather. Both died in their 60s because of heart attack. Jayme was only in his 40s at the time – he says he'll never know if they had symptoms they ignored.
Jayme thought he'd put it all behind him. However four years to the day, he once again had very mild – but worrisome – symptoms.
“It felt like a chest cold,” he said. “The heart attacks you see on TV are like The Big One and their grabbing their chests. It wasn't like that.”
Except it was that. This time, it was a 100% blockage in his circumflex artery.
“They told me I was having a heart attack,” he said.
Jayme was lucky to get all his cardiac care here in Thunder Bay, and today he's doing just fine. But he said that he's heard from many people who had to travel for care. That's why he decided to turn his already-popular Listen to the Lights show into a fundraiser for the Our Hearts at Home Campaign for Cardiovascular Surgery. In the last six years, he's raised over $3,000 for local cardiac care.
“It's my way of giving back to say thank you for keeping me above ground and letting me do my crazy light show.”
Do you have an idea for a community event to raise funds for local healthcare? Contact Jenelle Dawson (Jenelle.Dawson@tbh.net or 807-684-7788). She has some great ideas to help bring your event to life!
Article By: Graham Strong