Ross Shotts and his family decorate their 5-acre Florence property with more than 300,000 light bulbs and an array of festive displays at Christmastime.
Photo by Milton Morris
Ross Shotts
Age: 65.
Resides in: Florence.
Claim to fame: Owner and operator of the charity holiday light display Lights 4 Paws.
Lighting up the screen: The Shotts family participated in the ABC reality competition show The Great Christmas Light Fight on an episode that aired in 2023 but took four years of preparation. “The show was fun, but I don’t think we’d do it again,” Shotts says with a laugh. “We worked our behinds off getting ready for it.”
’Tis a long season: The Shottses begin putting up their light show in September and don’t finish taking it down until February.
Get there: Lights 4 Paws is located at 3251 Mears Drive, Florence, S.C. 29501. It is open the Friday evening following Thanksgiving through the evening following Christmas.
In almost every neighborhood during the holidays, there’s always that house. You know the one. With hundreds of strung-up lights and a whole drama being enacted by inflatables on the front lawn, it’s the brightest and most eye-catching.
Ross and Darlene Shotts live in that house except, well, they level up. On their 5-acre lot in Florence, they turn on over 300,000 bulbs—an attraction that brings in thousands of holiday light-seekers.
“We do lights in a way where we have little windows or venues—so one area might be reindeer and another might be aliens and another might be all Christmas trees,” Ross Shotts says. “We’ve built up a reputation of being a holiday thing for people to come see every year.”
It all started decades ago with just a few white lights decorating their home in Concord, North Carolina. But then they got some colored lights. And then some more lights, then some more, to the point where they became a neighborhood attraction. And when they moved to Florence to be closer to Darlene’s sister—who now rounds out their three-person decorating team—they looked for a property specifically with lights in mind.
“We both grew up seeing lights,” Shotts says. “We had the means to do the lights, and we wanted to get people in it instead of just driving by. They can hear the music, get in the middle of it, point fingers and take time to look at things.”
The Shottses do not charge admission, but they do ask for donations—all of which go to the Humane Society. That’s why they call their display “Lights 4 Paws.”
“Whether it’s a dime or $100—whatever you want to give, that’s fine,” Shotts says. “We’re of the philosophy that Christmas lights are for everybody. Even if you can’t afford them, you should be able to come and enjoy them.”