If you noticed some high-flying drones — 400 to be precise — performing a Christmas-themed routine in and around Keller last holiday season, you might have been watching the filming of season 11 of ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight.”
Keller resident Preston Ward, who also is chief pilot at North Richland Hills’ aerial entertainment company Sky Elements, was one of the contestants on the reality program that showcases over-the-top holiday lights.
The program, filmed in 2022, finally aired on Dec. 3 of this year. It was about time, said Ward.
“It was basically a two-year process,” he said.
But it was worth it. The Ward family ended up receiving the $50,000 prize that is given each episode to the winner. The program first ran on ABC and is now streaming on Hulu.
It was the show’s first holiday display with drones. One of the program’s hosts, Carter Oosterhouse, said the Ward’s presentation “changed the way Christmas can be displayed.”
The annual reality competition show takes Christmas lights to the level of Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” Each episode, four families compete for the cash prize. Two hour-long episodes air each Sunday night until Christmas.
This season has seen displays with a plane and a runway, a backyard train village as well as the usual assortment of St. Nicks, reindeer, candy canes and gingerbread houses. And now, it has aired a high-flying drone show from Ward and his family.
“My family and I have always done animated Christmas lights for as long as I can remember,” said Ward. “It’s always been a dream of ours to end up on ‘The Great Christmas Light Fight.’”
For Ward, Christmas light displays have always been a family affair. He proposed to his wife at a display at his childhood home. When they bought their home in Keller several years ago, the couple decided to put up some animated lights, a display that got a little larger each year, Ward said. A couple of years ago, after he became part of Sky Elements, he added a drone show to the display.
That caught the attention of officials at “The Great Christmas Light Fight.”
The family’s winning display included 20,000 remote-controlled pixel lights and eight moving heads, such as reindeer and talking Christmas trees. Impressive as all that was, that’s still pretty standard fare for the show.
“Are you ready to take Christmas into the future?” Ward asked Oosterhouse.
That’s when those 400 drones took to the skies, flying 400 feet in the air to create images such as wrapped presents, Santa emerging into a chimney, snowflakes and spelling out “Merry Christmas.”
The finale saw the drones form into the shape of the “The Great Christmas Light Fight” trophy.
At one point in the program, Ward put virtual reality headgear on host Oosterhouse and then flew a camera-equipped drone through the light show.
Ward said that it took some time to get the necessary licenses and city approvals for the show in a residential neighborhood. It also took several months to design the show. His experience at Sky Elements was helpful in all that, he said.
Ward was aided by wife Tara, and friend and fellow Sky Elements employee Tyler Johnson, a drone technology engineer, and his wife, Taylor.
If you’ve seen a drone show in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you’ve probably seen an example of Sky Elements’ work. They did the drone show for TCU’s celebration of its 150th anniversary celebration in January 2023, and the company programmed the drone show for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Concert in the Garden this year.
“We did 15 drone shows on a Saturday recently,” he said. “We’re busy.”
Ward said he had always been interested in fireworks shows, often getting together with friends to do fireworks shows on weekends. However, he was also fascinated by the oil and gas industry, went to law school and began working in that industry. He eventually became general counsel for Sky Elements.
The Wards donated their $50,000 prize money to Hope Mommies Dallas Chapter, a nonprofit that supports families who have lost a child. The Wards lost their infant daughter, Briley, in 2020.
“The Hope Mommies Dallas group can really help people who are going through losing a child,” he said. “We really want to support that.”
Sky Elements on Dec. 17 had a show for the public at Birdville Stadium. The show set two Guinness Book of World Records. One was for Largest Fictional Character made with multirotor drones and another for Largest Aerial Image made with multi-rotors or drones.
If you go …
You may be able to see the lights and drones on some nights by the Wards’ home at 1729 Sawtooth Oak Trail Keller 76248 at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Parking is available at nearby Northwood Church.
To see The Great Christmas Light Show, visit Hulu.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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