Hidden holiday wonderland lights up new bar on Wrightsville Avenue

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) – It’s time to deck the halls in the Cape Fear region and a new bar is ready to go with thousands of twinkling Christmas lights.

Behind an unsuspecting fridge door, a room of holiday magic awaits.

Hundreds of ornaments, thousands of colorful lights, nutcrackers and Christmas trees all accompany an orchestra of decorative fun. The person behind this room full of lights is Mitchell Wells, owner of Peaky Blinkers, a local Christmas light installation company. The name of the business may sound familiar if you like the Netflix TV show.

“It’s a spin off kind of with the peak of a house and blinkers with the lights and then of course being a ‘Peaky Blinders’ fan it was just kind of a cool name to go with,” Wells said.

Wells installed all the blinking lights inside The Rift, a new bar located on Wrightsville Avenue. The owners of The Rift brought Wells in to bring their Christmas vision to life.

“They wanted it to be the most wonderful Christmas bar that it could be,” Wells said.

Wells has been installing Christmas lights for over five years and out of all his projects, this one is special.

“This is my favorite project so far just with being able to be creative with everything and make the magic come alive,” Wells said.

This is just a seasonal side gig for Wells and when he’s not installing lights, he’s doing landscaping. With too many lights to count, Wells said they all come from his supplier in Raleigh, North Carolina. After collaborating with the bar owners, Wells spent an entire week decorating.

“You do probably eight-hour days for seven days and then pull in some help every once in a while,” Wells said.

It’s seeing the final product that makes it all worth it.

“Everyone knows Christmas lights can be difficult, they get tangled this, that, and the other but then once it’s done you get see everything lit up,” Wells said.