Every holiday season, Bradshaw Street in Overland Park transforms from an ordinary cul-de-sac into a magical Christmas experience. Cars line up for miles for their turn to drive through the 13-house display decked out in thousands of holiday lights, hand-made props and holiday music to add an extra special touch. Every year the display gets bigger, better and has something new.
A lot of work goes into creating the magic, and when Jim Haskett sees the joy on a child’s face as they marvel at the lights, all of his hard work has paid off.
“I can’t even really describe it because they are just so happy,” Jim says.
Jim has had a love for Christmas decorations for as long as he can remember. “I’ve always hung lights up ever since I was a little kid,” he says. “Even when I lived by myself I still would put up a Christmas tree.”
The journey to the street-wide creation started in 2013 when Jim created a large Christmas display on his own house with the blessing of his wife, Gina. His creations continued to grow year after year and began catching the attention of other neighbors.
“I just started making bigger and bigger props, and I would take my old props and put them in other people’s yards,” he says.
In 2016, several neighbors wanted to be a part of the magic and offered up their yards to house props and lights. Before he knew it, almost everyone on the street was involved in the display, and a new sense of community was formed.
“It really brought us all together, and we started having little block parties and would discuss what we might do,” he says.
While Jim does the majority of prop creation, Gina says other neighbors have begun coming up with their own special ideas to contribute.
“We’ve got a lady on the block who is an artist, and she is painting props, and last year she made a selfie station,” Gina says.
Creating “Christmas on Bradshaw” is a year-round project. Jim hand-makes every single prop from scratch and relies heavily on retrofitting. He sees every new year as a challenge.
“Last year was the first year that I sat back going, ‘you know, if I can’t get anything else done, this show looks pretty darn good the way it is,’” he says. “But of course I can’t stop.”
This year, Jim’s 20-foot-tall Christmas tree will have three times the amount of lights on it, and many of his props will be even bigger.
His display wouldn’t be the same without the coordinating holiday music. Jim says his neighbor’s son, 14-year-old Olathe East freshman Emerson Prather, has become his second-in-command in helping with the display’s programming, doing “quite a bit” of the music sequences.
Over the last few years, the number of families coming out to experience the display has increased significantly. Jim says he could even see the traffic on Google Maps in 2020.
However, Gina says drivers are almost never sitting still. “They are usually moving through at a pretty decent pace, and people are pretty respectful of each other,” she says, adding that she loves that the display creates an escape from the negativity of the world. “This gives everybody that chance to turn that all off and be happy.”
Although they weren’t able to do it last year, Gina says her family’s favorite part about the display is handing out candy canes to people in cars. She said it’s a chance to see the holiday spirit up close. “Just the laughter and all the happiness that you hear is pretty remarkable,” she says.
Jim agrees that going out and interacting with people enjoying the display is the best partl. “I think the slumber parties and the big SUVs and vans is heart-melting. These little kids are just in their pajamas and are just in awe.”
The Christmas on Bradshaw display will be open for drivers through early January. As soon as the decorations start coming down, Jim is already coming up with his vision for the next year. To visit Christmas on Bradshaw, head over to the Forest Glen subdivision at 138th and Bradshaw.