The Apruzzi family has been putting on their elaborate Christmas light show every holiday season for over 15 years. Unfortunately, their New Jersey town has had about enough of it, and now the town is threatening to shut them down.
“We had a meeting with the Mayor and the Chief of Police the other night and they blatantly told us that this is what you will pay in order to put this Christmas light display on this year,” Kris Apruzzi, a resident of Old Bridge, New Jersey, told WPIX New York.
The town claims that the hordes of people who show up for the massive light show are causing a public nuisance. Officials want the Apruzzis to pay for the cost of police security at the show and for the cost of busing people in to see it, in an effort to reduce car traffic. They’ve told the family that the cost will be around $50,000.
The Apruzzis say that it takes two months for them to put up their more than 300,000 lights each year, and the show is free to anyone who wants to come and see it. The family does collect voluntary donations to Homes for Our Troops, which builds homes that can accommodate veterans who are disabled.
“I’m not taking it down,” Tom Apruzzi said. “It’s my religious right and my first amendment right. I do this for the veterans and everything else like that. If people have a problem with that, I can’t say anything about it. There are people that are going to be happy, and there are always people that are going to be unhappy.”
Footage provided by WPIX New York
Source : https://www.littlethings.com/christmas-light-display-50k-fine/