Holiday display at 60,000 lights, and counting

By Karen Peterson / Leader Staff

RONAN — At 115 3rd Avenue North West, on a white house across the street from the high school there are 80,000 lights.

Almost.

Kim Snyder used his vacation time to put on one of Ronan's most extravagant lights displays on his home but the weather forced him to scale down slightly for a few days, so he came up with around 60,000, so far.

"In the cold weather, nothing worked right. We fought and fought. It's normally in the 40s this time of year but this year it is darn right cold," he said.

But that is better than last year. Last year, he couldn't get any help to set the lights up so he didn't.

"I needed help and no one wanted to help so I didn't set them up. This year, thankfully, people showed up to help but we didn't get it all done," he said. "I've done this for a few years now, three, not counting last year."

With help this year, most of the lights were set up including different strands in all colors that covered toy trains, fencing, bushes, windows, and just about everything that can hold a strand of lights was illuminated.

"I couldn't get the 10 reindeers going, "he said. "But we will."

Snyder already has a Christmas tree set up and decorated inside of his house, so what inspires him to go all out with the decorations?

"Every day I came home from work and there were cars sitting in the driveway waiting for me to turn them on," he said. "People come by here and stop and I get to see them smile. And this puts people in the holiday spirit."

The increased power bill from all those lights doesn't even bother him.

"The power bill jumps up to $150 more a month but that isn't bad for as many lights as I put up. The trick is to use mini-lights. The smaller lights use less electricity and they cost less. But I am running out of outlets. I had to rewire the yard so that I could get six outlets going but I need more," he said. "I should buy stock in the power company."

The biggest problem with stringing so may lights — besides keeping them organized — is that one pesky light can create a big problem, interrupting the circuit and preventing the entire strand from working. So Snyder has what he calls a "life saver" which is a tool that fuses together the wires of a burnt out light so that the rest of the strand will work, theoretically.

"Usually, if one goes out they will keep going, but sometimes, I have to work on them, but if it's too much of a hassle I'll just get a new strand," he said.

And how does he know that there are 80,000 lights? He counts them as he buys new ones, and every year the display gets bigger.

"I'll keep adding onto this as long as I can. I even have to warn the neighbors that they'll see their power fluctuate when I turn them on. They've said that they don't mind. But as long as I can pay for it, I can keep adding on more lights," he said. "And I will."