Show Bookmobile 1 4 Crossword 1 5 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday December 24 1989 f "trinliiJti ''XjJjjKigiving ' ftestohlnows the has arrived ‘Thanksgiving night this year hundreds and hundreds of cars drove down our street and stopped to look at our Christmas display” said Leo Geddes “It (the display) has become kind of a tradition in Preston I guess” The Geddes ’ lighting project during Christinas started 1 1 years ago when his wife DeAnne and their four children put up a few outside decorations The following year an outside display mat was mostly handmade by a local resident was for sale and die Geddes family decided to purchase it "Things kind of mushroomed from there" he said during a recent interview "It seems like die family has added more and more lights and displays each year Right now the front yard is about as full as it can get We’re to die point that we can’t add a whole lot more because We’ve simply run out of space" Geddes said be does try to move some of the 20000 lights around each year or add a little something new or put a new twist on an older display that has been up for awhile "Last year we put up a Santa sleigh and reindeer display And during the Christmas season last year we noticed the front portion of the yard was a little dark” he said “So we decided to put up a small hedge and decorate it with lights this season That small hedge took at least 2000 lights It turned out to be a larger project than we oieybiiein anticipated” The new addition serves a dual purpose he said It adds light to die front portion of die yard and keeps people on die sidewalk and away from die actual displays There are too many electrical outlets extension cords and other equipment to allow people to wander indiscriminately among the displays anymore he explained with too much potential for an accident Geddes said some people in the community think he and his grown family are just a little bit crazy for continuing the lighted display year afteryear Operating die Christmas display is an expensive proposition for Geddes It costs about $500 just for the electricity to light the lights and run the animated displays during the season The Geddes dan starts and checking them twice in late July The project continues to ’ ‘ 'Turkey Day and beyond Bulbs are replaced every day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day The displays and lights actually start going up on the home and in die yard in October when the weather is still relatively warm Geddes said "Some individuals have questioned why I put the decorations up so remarks many days prior to Thanksgiving They mike aChristmas gift to the community In today’s hurry-u- p society too many people think all they have to do is take take take Sometime during die year everybody needs to give a little bit back to their own community in some fashion This is our way” Geddes said when he really stops to think about the lighting project he can see it has been contagious in die community cold "Mayor Walter Ross and I were decorating our homes with lights 11 years ago and probably were the two homes in Preston with the most decorations then” he said "We probably still have the most decorations and lights But you can drive around the community and see die lighting project has really caught hold in the area There are numerous homes in Preston that are attractively adorned with Christinas lights and decorations More and more homes are decorated every year "And things have really mushroomed since the business district started putting lights on commercial buildings downtown four years light-heart- ed ago” Mayor Walter Ross said about four years ago Geddes suggested to him the city's downtown business district could be decorated with lights just like the buildings in Disneyland "We made the suggestion to a few business owners who'put lights up and ran the idea past the Chamber of Commerce who was trying tp come up with some small way to increase visitation to the city" he said "Chamber officials liked the idea and die community’s annual Festival of Lights celebration was bom Now almost every building See CHRISTMAS on page 14 Leo Geddes (top photo) and his family begin decorating for Christmas in July Their yard and contains over 20000 and numerous holiday decorations The Geddes family says the holiday display Is their gift to the dty of Preston house lights Text: Robert Merrill Photos: Kevin Rice |