Cottonplant Family’s Display Offers Unique Holiday Experience

The attraction, billed as “North Mississippi’s #1 Best Kept Secret,” is quickly becoming well known. I found out about it via word of mouth.

Thursday night I convinced several family members to accompany me to see the “Christmas in Cottonplant” holiday display. We loaded into the car and settled in for the hour-long drive from my mother’s house to Cottonplant, Miss.

We went through Ripley, then Blue Mountain, after which we spotted our destination just off the left side of the highway. The bright lights and varied colors, along with a string of traffic waiting to turn in to the driveway, was the tipoff.

I have never seen so many inflatables in one place in my life. That’s the point, of course. According to the Mississippi Christmas website, which features information on various holiday displays throughout the state, the Cottonplant display has over 450 inflatables and over 20,000 lights. All of the classic Christmas icons are represented: Charlie Brown, Frosty, Grinch, Santa Claus, and the Nativity—along with some not so traditional Christmas figures, including Homer Simpson and Winnie the Pooh sporting Christmas attire.

How did it all begin? The Paul family, who run the display on the grounds of their private residence, say, “What started out as a decoration for our boys to name at the back of our house has grown into a hobby/collection. You will see inflatables here that are retired, one of a kinds that were never mass produced, one from Europe, one from Mexico, and others that were only sold in large cities in the United States.”

The trail through the decorations, which spans 13 acres, is roped off with lights, which require two to five miles of wire to run. In various locations, projectors cast classic Christmas cartoons and clips from holiday movies onto screens. Other unique attractions await visitors, including a video window projection that looks to be Santa Claus moving around inside the owner’s house on the property. At the end of one path on the far side of the display stands a gargantuan inflated Santa, who must be around 25 feet tall.

The family runs the Elk Café on the grounds, selling hot chocolate and other warm treats, and visitors may also opt to have photographs made with costumed characters such as Frosty or the Grinch. All of this merriment is synchronized to the accompaniment of classic holiday music broadcast over the airwaves from a local FM radio station.

According to further information on the Mississippi Christmas website, two people begin assembling the display from July to October for four to five hours daily. In November, two to six people work about four or five hours daily to get the display ready for its opening Thanksgiving weekend. The display then runs until the day after Christmas—except for Christmas Eve. After the holiday, it requires about four or five hours daily for one or two people to disassemble the display from December until the end of March.

Some observers, I’m sure, think the design is gaudy or overwrought. I tried to imagine how I would have enjoyed it if I had been a child strolling through the display of lights and characters, and I observed the youngsters who were captivated by what seemed to them a magical landscape. They led parents and grandparents through the maze of displays, pointing out particular characters.

After less than half an hour, my party collectively decided it was time to go. I had originally envisioned a drive-thru spectacle, and so our accoutrements were not quite adequate for the winter weather.

Upon return following the roughly 90-mile round trip, after having been sated with holiday lights and music, we stopped to refuel the car. As the trip was my idea, I offered to pay. With prices holding just under $3 a gallon, I realized the Grinch had taken over at the gas pump. I thought we had left him behind with all of the other costumed characters. Nevertheless, our holiday visit to Cottonplant was still well worth it.