By David Vitrano
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The Christmas season got off to a colorful start with the annual lighting of the display at Gold Eagle Security on Carrollwood Drive in LaPlace.
With the St. John Parish Young Marines there to help collect donations for the residents at the Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home in Reserve as well as toys for local children.
The display this year, which begins every 30 minutes, features lights dancing to five different holiday tunes, no minor feat.
Vic and Bobbie Zadain, who own Gold Eagle, have been lighting up this corner of LaPlace for several years now, and the show just gets bigger and better every year.
“There’s about 10,000 feet of wire,” said Vic Zadain.
Couple that with 16 controllers each holding 16 outlets and hundreds of thousands of lights, and running this show can get pretty complicated and high-tech. In fact, the system the Zadains use is the same one used at Disney World, they said.
The couple, along with several members of the family, start working on the show by Oct. 1 every year and pump not only thousands of dollars but also countless hours into the project. But, they said, seeing the joy on children’s faces makes it all worth it.
Spectators do not even have to get out of their vehicles to appreciate the free show. The musical accompaniment is broadcast over about a one-block radius on FM channel 107.7.
“Everybody’s invited,” said Vic Zadain.
The light show runs from 6 to 9 p.m. nightly.
And as it did last year, Gold Eagle is partnering with the St. John Parish Young Marines and L’Observateur to make sure area veterans are not forgotten during the holidays. Donations of toiletry items, DVDs, books, socks, fleece blankets, slippers, art supplies and other items can be dropped off at the Gold Eagle office at 1956 Carrollwood Drive, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Donations can also be delivered to L’Observateur’s office at 116 Newspaper Drive, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. On weekends, donations should be delivered directly to the Young Marines at their headquarters next to Regala Gymnasium.
Donations to the local toy drive can also be left at Gold Eagle during the aforementioned hours.