Wade Spivey said he never expected his Christmas decorations to ignite an online meme war, yet the lights on his Evanston home seem to be all anybody is talking about online.
That’s because a neighbor who was frustrated that the home lighting drowned out Wednesday’s northern lights show took to Facebook, with a post bemoaning “Wade” and his vanity lights.
“You're lucky if you saw the Northern Lights!” Schaffer’s post reads. “This is what I look at EVERY NIGHT for over two years now. Wade's dumb vanity light set to 100% brightness and flickering.”
Spivey responded to the post, saying he had no intention of causing anger or frustration with his lights and offered to limit the brightness after 10 p.m., sparked a massive debate over light pollution versus homeowner autonomy.
Evanston residents ran the theme further, crafting numerous memes about Wade’s lights.
“This has been kind of a weird deal,” Wade Spivey told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “This has just like exploded ever since Tuesday.”
After Schaffer took to the Evanston, Wyoming Community Page on Facebook to criticize Spivey’s trim lighting, images of Spivey’s illuminated house has fueled advertisements, AI music and memes.
"If you’ve been offended by these lights, you may be entitled to receive compensation,” one wrote.
"I can only imagine how much better this sunset would have been without Wade’s lights,” another jeered.
Spivey said the posts have been shared so widely that commenters from across the nation are now basking in the glow.
“I'm getting personal messages from people that live in Montana and Idaho, Nebraska — I mean, just all over the place; Wisconsin,” Spivey said.
Despite the energetic response, Spivey said he hopes to make light of the situation by launching a fundraiser to support a local charity and to serve as the first grand marshal of the Evanston Parade of Lights.
Schaffer did not respond to a Friday request for comment from Cowboy State Daily.
Blinded By The Light
Spivey said he has always loved celebrating the holidays and used to decorate his house with an obnoxious amount of string lights, just like in his favorite Christmas movie, "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
After building his own home in Evanston, a neighbor who owned a trim lighting company convinced him to install some.
The Spivey house has since displayed its lights and sometimes uses programs that can make them pulse or flash.
He said in the following years, he’s never experienced such an electrifying reaction from the community like the one he’s getting now.
“We've just been enjoying [the lights] for the past couple years and then, I think it was Tuesday morning when I woke up, both my wife and I had, I don't know how many text messages and notifications and everybody's like, ‘You got to get on this Facebook page and look what's going on,’” Spivey said.
He thought something horrific had happened, he said. But when he looked at the page he found Schaffer’s post.
“The only concern that has ever been brought to my attention was by a neighbor who asked that we not use the strobe setting — which I agreed to immediately and permanently removed,” Spivey wrote in reply. “Your comment, ‘because I like shaming Wade,’ really struck me. I’m really not sure what we’ve done to make you feel that way.”
Spivey said he would have preferred to speak with Schaffer in person but hoped his response would help clear the air.
“I even helped him with some yard stuff back in the day, just because my family and I, we’re really good people, and we just like to keep our neighborhood good and help out people when we can,” Spivey said of Schaffer. "And so I got on there, and I typed up a response, which you can probably go on there and see.
"And ever since I did that, it just like, exploded.”
Yearly Issue
The conversation has illuminated a longstanding issue over holiday decorations that continues to resurface in communities throughout Wyoming.
Teton County officials in 2024 issued a reminder to the public that outdoor string lighting must be turned off after Jan. 10. It said this rule helps minimize light pollution and aids sleep.
"The exterior lighting regulations were adopted to implement the community’s Comprehensive Plan goal to maintain dark skies that are vital to preserving the area’s natural character,” the county wrote in its public notice. "The regulations aim to reduce glare and light trespass, reduce light pollution, and reduce negative impacts on the nocturnal environment."
Violators may face a $750 fine.
Wyoming Highway Patrol officials warned last year that no matter how festive you may feel, decorating your car with lights outside of a parade is illegal.
That law is in place because of the way flashing lights can obscure one’s depth perception or confuse another driver as to when the brakes are applied.
Evanston Mayor Kent Williams told Cowboy State Daily on Friday he is not aware of any concerns from residents about lights on city homes.
“I'm not aware of anybody that’s absolutely opposed to those,” he said. "I've heard a few people just kind of said some of them look bright.
"I have a neighbor myself down the block that has them on her house, and I know I see them all the time, but I've never looked at them as being difficult to live with,” he added. "They're always very nice."
Some members of the Evanston page argued, however, that Spivey’s lights are a nuisance.
"Lights on houses should only be for Christmas,” Utah resident Cherlyn Wayland wrote. "It’s ridiculous to have them on night after night."
“Ugh,” Connie Hoffstetter lamented. “Light pollution."
“Yeah, that’s a little too much,” Sarah Kight commented.
#WadesLights
While Spivey said he intended his response to Schaffer to be polite, it sparked the creation of the #WadesLights hashtag, which became the calling card of sarcastic jokesters who shined a light on the dispute.
At least 55 posts in the Evanston page referenced “Wade” or his lights as of Friday morning, with more continuing to trickle in throughout the day.
One such meme depicted the biblical Three Wise Men encountering Spivey’s house and remarking, “I think we took a wrong turn.”
Another references a scene from “SpongeBob SquarePants” in which a character’s eyes burn with the caption “looking at Wade’s house so I can file disability tomorrow.”
Spivey’s house also drew comparisons to the overdone Christmas lights from "National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
Another post mocked Spivey’s house as one of the flaming beacons of Gondor which signal a call for aid in “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
One jokester even went so far as to create AI-assisted song inspired by Spivey’s lights.
“No magic, no cosmic display/ just blinded by the lights coming off Wade’s place,” the song goes. “While y’all enjoyed heaven putting on a show / I was cooking a burrito in Wade’s window glow.”
Britt Sloan, a banker who wrote the lyrics and fed them through AI music generator Suno, told Cowboy State Daily that despite having never seen Spivey’s house in person, he couldn’t help but get in on the joke.
“I make a lot of music with Suno, I've been making kids learning Spanish songs and various different genres of Christian music and stuff like that,” he said. “I've been here for, I don't know, 30 years or something, but I don't even know who Wade is.”
Sloan said that since he posted the song, his phone hasn’t stopped ringing with demands for more music.
“I wasn't planning on making a Wade’s lights album, but I suppose I had some cross my mind because people had some good ones, like somebody said something about ‘even Chuck Norris's eyes got burned,’” he said. “I wish I thought of that. I gotta put it in the song.”
Even local businesses used the trend to engage in self-promotion.
Local bowling alley and golf course Irons And Alleys volunteered its space as “a break from Wade’s lights.” Utah-based granite countertop supplier Granite Now offered customers a “Wade’s discount” while showing off an LED-equipped countertop that pulsed to the beat of a rap song.
Holiday light installer Trimlight Select vowed to rename its business to WadesLights. Evanston gym Prestige Athletics + Recovery claimed it could make customers’ bodies “as powerful as Wade’s lights.
Shine Bright Like a Diamond
While Spivey said the constant attention has lit up his phone, he isn’t bothered by it given the way it brings a much-needed moment of levity during a moment of high tension in the community.
“I think it's awesome,” he said. “Recently, there's been a lot of drama in Evanston because of a vote that we just had with a tax increase. It was a penny tax so there's been a lot of people on social media going after each other, and I've noticed some people on there.
“This is perfect timing, because we feel like it's brought a lot of laughter and joy to people, and people can have fun with this,” he added. “And it's starting to make people feel better about the community.”
Spivey said some commenters suggested he should be paid for becoming the butt of a nationwide joke. While he wasn’t comfortable with making a profit, he said the suggestion led him to consider how his lights could be used to benefit others.
Tiffany Bateman Windley, a friend of Spivey’s, created a gray T-shirt printed with the outline of a roof, string lights and text reading “#WadesLights.” The shirts sell for $25, with $15 covering the cost of production and $10 going toward the charity Festival For Families.
“This thing's exploding and I'm like, ‘Let's turn this around and really make it worthwhile,’” Spivey said. “The local businesses are tagging on to this. I mean, all the people from different states, the stuff that's been created is hilarious. I think it's really funny.
"Some of them are great. I don't know how people get on and create that stuff.”
The joke even led Spivey to be officially named grand marshall of the Evanston Parade of Lights on Friday.
“The organizer for that got in touch with me, and she's like, ‘Wade, you've been nominated to be the first ever Grand Marshal of our light parade,’” Spivey said. “So I'm like ‘OK, yeah, let's roll with it.’ So I guess I need to find a suit or something that I can light up too.”
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
