GILROY
– From wooden nativity scenes and mechanical elves to
decorations as blindingly obscene as Chevy Chase’s in
”
Christmas Vacation,
”
Gilroy’s holiday lights tour could capture anyone’s imagination
and turn any Grinch into a bastion of holiday cheer.
GILROY – From wooden nativity scenes and mechanical elves to decorations as blindingly obscene as Chevy Chase’s in “Christmas Vacation,” Gilroy’s holiday lights tour could capture anyone’s imagination and turn any Grinch into a bastion of holiday cheer.
And while this year’s list of Chamber of Commerce contest winners looks an awful lot like last year’s, it doesn’t mean the tour is the same as it was before. It just means that the best decorators got even better.
At 400 Fifth St., home of last year’s contest winner Carolyn Silva, last-minute preparations were going on as the judges made their rounds for the 2003 contest Wednesday night. As the judges pulled up, Silva was racing around the corner of her house.
“It’s not ready yet,” she said. “I don’t have my snow machines working, yet.”
The snow machines, which Silva said she bought the last three of from the QVC home shopping channel, are one of her many new additions to her house design. The machines are, in effect, a light bulb that shines off a slowly downward-rolling disco ball. The reflection of the light back on the house gives the effect of falling snow.
Silva redesigns her entire yard each year except for her nativity scene and frozen pond. The rest is kept in a storage unit that holds her decorations not just for Christmas but for Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween and the Fourth of July.
“Nothing is ever thrown away,” she said. “It might come back up in three years.”
Despite not having everything working just right when the judges made their stop, it was obvious they had seen their winner.
“Anybody who puts this much work in has to win,” said John Arbuckle, one of Chamber’s five judges who took time from their schedules to spend a few hours zig-zagging through Gilroy neighborhoods in a Ford Excursion donated for the evening by Bob Lynch Ford. “Anybody who does this kind of stuff is serious about this.”
Judge Rhona Chan agreed.
“The more you look at it, the more you see,” she said. “It’s pretty hard to top this one.”
Silva, who took third place in the contest twice before winning the last two, said she looks for new items for her display all year long.
“I won last year, so I knew I had to top what I did last year,” she said. “I’m already working on ideas for next year.”
Seventeen homes entered the contest, two more than last year. First-place earned a $75 prize, with $50 for second and $25 for third. A $75 prize went to the best group display and $25 went to the best apartment or condo. Silva plans to donate her $75 prize.
“I write a check and turn it over to the Make-a-Wish Foundation,” she said. “And if anybody who enjoys this display wants to show their appreciation can make a check out to the San Francisco chapter.”
Silva’s design, which she leaves up until New Year’s Day, uses so much power that her PG&E bill comes out to about $600 for the month. She also has to deal with her share of circuit breaker problems and shorted wires. But that’s where friends like Sal Martinez come in to help.
“I design it, and he makes sure I get it right,” Silva said. “He gets all the cords to work right.”
But that’s not always enough to keep things running. After a storm last year, Silva had to call an electrician to come out for two days to get her display working again.
While the event is competitive and everyone wants to win, Silva said that’s not what the holiday display is all about. She said seeing the cars slow down or stop as they make their way by her house isn’t near as enjoyable as when she sees their faces light up.
“It’s not their attention, it’s their smile their enjoyment,” she said.
The Trujillo family, of 621 La Sierra Way, agreed with those sentiments.
“What really excites me is when all the kids come in with their mouths like this,” Trujillo said as he let his jaw drop while standing in front of his Christmas display.
Another repeat winner this year was a four-house combination at the corner of Orchard Drive and West Eighth Street, in the neighborhood combination.
Even though their neighbor Rob Colla and his 32,000-light display moved to the other side of town, Larry Pierotti and Steve Peterson were back out on the corner to meet well-wishers for the holidays. The neighbors’ bustling, out-of-control Christmas display brings people in from all around, and Peterson said they handed out 1,700 candy canes last year, which they plan to start doing again this weekend.
