Everett, Wash. Published: Thursday, December 25, 2008
Keeping the lights on
A volunteer hangs strings of glowing holiday cheer
By Justin Arnold Herald Writer
WARM BEACH -- Chevy Chase has nothing on Bill Burr.
In the movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," Chase as Clark Griswold decorated his house with a mere 250 light strings.
As a volunteer at the Lights of Christmas, Burr has created light displays for the past 12 years cumulatively using more than 636,000 light strings.
Griswold, eat your heart out.
"My only claim to fame would be that I'm one of the few volunteers left that started out in the first Lights of Christmas," Burr said. "I'm proud to be part of the tradition."
Burr, 80, has been a volunteer light stringer since 1997 when the Lights of Christmas first started. Back then, you could get the job done with a few thousand lights and a ladder, he explained.
These days there are more than 1,002,000 lights that are arranged by using a hydraulic lift that extends to 60 feet -- and sometimes even that's not high enough.
This year was a light year, Burr admitted. He only put up 53,000 light strands.
"I have three trees I spend most of my time on, one of which is named after me," Burr said. "That one takes 32,000 lights."
It took him 17 days to put the lights up, with help from a hydraulic lift.
The Lights of Christmas is a tremendous effort for Warm Beach Camp employees, requiring crews of light stringers to begin as early as September, spokesman Patrick Patterson said.
"Bill has been a part of the Lights of Christmas since the very beginning," Patterson said. "I couldn't imagine one without him."
It would hard to put a price tag on the volunteer work Burr does. He has no fear of heights, has never gotten an electric shock and has been known to spend a week just changing burned-out bulbs from a single tree.
"At my age I've only got a few years left in me," Burr said. "I'll keep putting lights up in those trees as long as I am able."
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
