2004
We lost our brother Steve in May of 2003 to cancer. In
March of 2004, we lost our dear sister Ellie to cancer as
well. My brother Brian stayed in Chicago after her death
to ready her home for sale. While he was cleaning the basement
he came across a small pulley system which sparked an idea
for the Christmas light display. He called me and told me
he wanted to run a cable over the pond and create a giant
heart, as a memorial to our sister and brother, as well
as our father who had died in 2001.
Meanwhile, I put in another 4, 20 amp circuits to allow
for additional light expansion. I also prepared ahead by
determining how to run the circuits outside and creating
an excel file with all of the details, including a detailed
map which covered all 1.7acreas of our property.
Brian arrived well in advance of Thanksgiving and spent
about a week mounting the pulley system to two trees about
110 feet apart, in front of the pond, and creating the giant
heart. When all was said and done, our light display came
in at 34,962 lights and we had a 30-40 foot heart hanging
in front of the pond, with the names of ‘Dad’,
‘Steve’, and ‘Ellie’.
Once the Holidays were over, I decided to leave the heart
up until Valentine’s Day. We turned the heart back
on for that week only. The local newspaper, The Poughkeesie
Journal, learned of it and ended up interviewing me and
publishing an article about the heart. You can read the
article below. |
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