The Greensboro Christmas Balls

Greensboro, North Carolina has a unique Christmas tradition. The Sunset Hills neighborhood hangs large balls made of chicken wire and Christmas lights hanging high in the trees. It all started with one family in 1996, spread throughout the neighborhood, and in 2007 it became a project to collect food for the local food bank, called Shine A Light on Hunger. Learn more about it at the Christmas Balls blog. 

Greensboro also has an annual race called the Running of the Balls, which raises funds for the Second Harvest Food Bank. In this video, you can see drone footage of the Greensboro Christmas Balls from various distances. In a video from 2009, Jonathan Smith tells the story of how it all began. And how do they get the balls so high up in the trees? With a potato gun! (via Metafilter)