EVERETT — Gary Cave’s century-old home beams across his snow-covered street like a beacon fit for three kings.
He’s been building an arsenal of lights and giant snowmen and reindeer since he moved into this home seven years ago on State Avenue in Everett.
He even bought an artificial snow blower on QVC. He put it away when the real stuff fell.
He doesn’t look too closely at his power bill for December. For one month, the cost and the time and the effort is worth it to Cave, an auto mechanic.
“It makes me happy to see the lights,” he said. “There’s nothing better than driving down the street after a hard day of work and seeing the glow of the white lights a block away.”
In the Riverside Neighborhood, decorating is serious business — at least at some homes. The Neighborhood Association started a holiday contest 11 years ago and it’s developed a life of its own, a snowball trucking downhill, picking up speed and gathering snow and plastic flashing reindeer along the way.
The winners get a sign planted in their front yard and a gift bag.
The categories have expanded beyond “Best Decorated” to others including “Best Earth Friendly” and “Best Theme.” Cave won in the latter category for his “Winter Wonderland” theme with its inflatable snowmen, Charlie Brown Christmas tree and nodding reindeer.
“I’m a big kid myself,” he said. “The best part is when I see cars stop, windows roll down and people stare at the place.”
Let’s be clear: While moments of extreme decorating pop up, the area hasn’t yet reached that critical point when seniors and school kids are taking chartered buses to tour a million lights. Cave’s home is just about the only one on his block with any sort of holiday adornment.
This is mainly a scrappy, blue-collar neighborhood, a place where trim bungalows with neat gardens mix with 100-year-old houses with chipped paint and sagging eaves.
The frequency and exuberance of decorating can be just as unpredictable.
The decorations run from kitschy to classic. Since homeowners can only win once in a three-year period, some of the most colorful homes don’t sport one of the winner’s signs this year. One house on the corner of 26th and Baker streets, for instance, didn’t win, but what a display: It’s eclectic, colorful mix is a homage to U.S. soldiers, Jesus’ birthday and Santa. Neighbors said the homeowner hosted Santa — beard, suit, the whole thing — over last weekend and served cookies and cocoa to the neighborhood.
This contest is about community pride, about loving the holidays, said Toni Petersen, who started the competition. She’s been known to drape her 100-year-old home in a 26-foot-long garland.
“It’s boosted the morale and the spirit of the neighborhood,” she said. “Before, nobody hardly ever decorated. It’s a great way for neighbors to get into the spirit of the holidays.”
Sometimes, it’s about decorations eliciting open-mouthed glee from the children across the street.
That’s one of the reasons Annabelle Collings and her son Duane enjoy tethering more than half a dozen gigantic blowup holiday figures in their front yard on Maple Avenue. The biggest is a snowman standing on the shoulders of another snowman, altogether 12 feet of fan-blown joy. They’ve also got Snoopy on his dog house, polar bears and a lighthouse. The inflatable figures can cost up to $200 a piece. After years of decorating, they won “Best Inflatable,” a new category.
“We get cars stopping all the time,” said Duane Collings, who’s in charge of tethering the inflatables down in the front yard and, when necessary, shaking off the crust of snow so they inflate properly.
Annabelle Collings, a retired accountant, loves watching the children’s reaction at the day care center across the street. And she just loves it.
“I love this holiday,” she said. “It’s not just for the kids, it’s for the kid in me.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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