Here's where to find holiday lights, straight from the author of the definitive lights guide

CATHY WURZER: There are holiday lights up everywhere. And if you've not already hung them, the weather today and tomorrow will be helpful to getting that task done. If you're looking for more elaborate displays, there's an annual online guide that can help you map out a holiday light outing. Mike Marcotte is an executive producer at KSTP TV and runs the blog Give Me the Mic. And for the seventh year is back with Minnesota Holiday Lights Guide, which is fantastic. Mike is on the line.

Good to hear your voice, my friend. How have you been?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Cathy, I'm doing really well. Happy holidays.

CATHY WURZER: And to you as well. Now for folks who are not familiar, why'd you start this guide?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Well, back in the day, as a kid, I would go to Holiday Lights in the Park at Lake Phalen in St. Paul. And it was the Electricians' Union, I believe, that would run that display. And they did a fantastic job. And it just ran its course. They ended the display. And I wanted to know where other displays were.

And the newspapers here in town would run a big listing of displays. And then that ended, too. And I didn't know where to go. So then I found that as an opportunity for me to go and publish Displays. And there's a lot of people here in the state of Minnesota who are doing a fantastic job. And they pour hours and months into planning and putting up all their lights. So I wanted to give them a little credit.

So that's why I published this Display. It has, Cathy, over 125 light shows around the state of Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

CATHY WURZER: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Well, I know you are a holiday light connoisseur. And I trust your judgment on these light displays. Now back in the day when you and I were kids and we'd drive around in our parents' car and see the light displays, I mean, it was fine, right?

But nowadays, you got your inflatables, you got your music program to songs. What do you consider, Mike Marcotte, a good holiday lights display? What are the elements?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Oh my gosh.

CATHY WURZER: See?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Oh, this is a tough question, Cathy. You're a good journalist.

[LAUGHS]

A good holiday light display to me, it needs to have lights, right. It doesn't matter what kind of lights. It could be those new RGB whatever hex lights they put up. It doesn't matter. It could be the old school lights. It needs to have some good lights, right. I'm always a fan of the blow molds. OK, I got to say that carefully. Blow molds. You know what I'm talking about, Cathy, right?

From the 1950s. Right, it was in your grandma's yard back in the day.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Right. They're made out of plastic. They sat in the yard. They're just old school charming. A lot of these yards that are on my guide on givemethemike.com, they have inflatables. I could live without that inflatables. But to each their own, right? Whatever ways you can celebrate the holidays and bring some cheer to your neighbors and to those wanting to go look at some holiday lights, by all means.

CATHY WURZER: I'm anti-inflatable myself, but that's just me. I do like the old school. You and I are similar in our tastes. So OK, you've got a lot of light displays on the list this year. Is there a requirement to get on your guide?

MIKE MARCOTTE: There is no requirement, because I'm just looking for people who want to spread holiday cheer. I don't want Bob down the street who just put up one string of lights on the back of his patio. I don't need to put his light display on my guide. So is there's a little bit of judgment there.

However, I do say approximately at least 2,500 lights. There are some homes and displays that have 100,000 lights plus on here. There's a lot of them, actually. About 80% of my displays have at least 10,000 lights. So if you're looking at your own display at your house and you're like, oh, I think this is at least 10,000 lights, you should consider putting it on my guide. And you can list yours on display for free on my website.

CATHY WURZER: Wow, OK. Anything new or exciting on the guide this year?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yes. So I'm glad you asked. Just yesterday, I dropped an article on givemethemike.com of cities who have planned holiday lights contests. And they asked all of residents of Inver Grove Heights and North Mankato. Duluth has one. They asked residents to submit their homes for contests and lights tours.

And I rounded up a listing of all of those Cities. And a lot of them have interactive Google Maps. So if you're looking for a concentrated area to go and look at lights, the city of Inver Grove Heights does a phenomenal job. They run a competition for homeowners. And there's one map on my website that has over 100 listings of homes in just Inver Grove Heights alone that you can go check out.

So you don't even have to leave the suburb of Inver Grove Heights, and you can see 100 displays all lit up for the holiday season.

CATHY WURZER: Good. Because I'm thinking, my mom is elderly. And I'm always looking for something for her to do when she's down here. So really, if you have a person with maybe some mobility issues, might that be the best way to see holiday lights just get in the car and just solely drive-through neighborhoods, versus another more commercial display?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Yeah, a lot of the big commercial displays are going to be walkthrough displays. So there's a couple drive-through displays still. Miracle at Big Rock in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. That has a couple drive-through nights. There's the new one, Magic of Lights down in Eagan at the Vikings training facility. That is a pure drive-through display.

Of course, you also have Seavers down in Shakopee off of Highway 169. That's also a drive-through display. But those bigger commercial displays here in the metro area are going to be-- a lot of them are walk through. Like Glow, Sam's Christmas Village and the beautiful part about my guide is all of the information is on my website. It tells you ticket prices, it tells you which nights are walk-through versus drive-through. There's a lot of information to digest, and all that information is on givemethemike.com. Makes it really easy.

CATHY WURZER: I know, of course, this is a very unfair question. But I'm going to ask it anyway, because you and I are friends. What is your favorite display so far that you've seen this year?

MIKE MARCOTTE: Ooh, my gosh. Goodness, that is a tough question. I just took my partner and his kids out to Sam's Christmas Village in Somerset, Wisconsin. They had not been. And Sam is home to 12 million lights. And it's magical to watch other people experience something of that grandeur for the first time, Cathy. That was really, really fun, because they're like 12-- it's hard to fathom what 12 million lights actually looks like until you actually go and see 12 million lights, right?

It was magical to watch them see this 53-foot tall Santa Claus and a 55-foot tall Christmas tree. And this American flag that is all lit up. It's just magical. And that was really, really fun for us to go do together. And that's the beautiful part about this, is that it's something that you get to go do with those you love. And that's why this guide is so fun, because you can just hop in the car. You don't have to spend much money, more than just a couple dollars on gas to drive out to these cities. Coon Rapids is great in the North Metro. The East Metro Woodbury is fantastic. Inver Grove in the South.

Plymouth in the West Metro has a lot of displays. And then there's displays out in Southern Minnesota, Northern Minnesota. Mankato's got some fantastic displays as well.

CATHY WURZER: All right. A labor of love, Mike. You do always such a great job with this guide. Thanks so much, and happy holidays.

MIKE MARCOTTE: Oh, happy holidays, Cathy. I miss you. Come on Minnesota Live any time.

CATHY WURZER: OK, I will. Thank you. Mike Marcotte is the creator of the Minnesota Holiday Lights Guide. You can find it on his website, givemethemike.com.