Et cetera : How, and why Larry Kersten\'s light display still inspires so many

Heidi Koopman says this bi-plane made by her father, Larry Kersten, is her favorite.

Santa gestures from atop a chimney at the Koopman farm.

Sometime every December, I park on a country road and wait for Santa Claus to go up a chimney.

While children and Christmas purists would question much about that previous sentence, chances are that if you are from the Vinton area, you know exactly what road -- and what Santa -- I stop to see.

As a child, I often rode with my grandparents or parents to 22nd Avenue and V61 (the Mount Auburn road, as my ancestors called it.)

I didn't know the name of the street or the family who lived on the corner, but I looked forward to seeing the huge display of moving Christmas decorations. My favorite was always the Santa who would rise from the chimney, his finger over his lips in the famous "SHHHH" gesture, and then slowly disappear again. I made my parents wait countless times for the Santa to appear again. I also loved the display featuring the reindeer on the sleigh being pulled by eight Santas, all with their legs frantically churning.

My parents never gave me lots of details, other than to explain how one man built this display.

Sometime around November of 1994 or 1995, I met Larry Kersten and his family at that home at that corner. I was a reporter at the Independence newspaper and I thought that the story -- even though it was south of the Buchanan-Benton County Line -- was worth mentioning, even though it meant a 45-minute or so drive.

Larry and Carolyn told me their story, and how (and why) the display took place.

It's really a simple story that just kept going, and growing. Larry was a machinist and an artist. He liked to create mechanical thing with his hands, and he had young children. So he made a moving display and put it up with some lights around Christmas time. Then he made another, and another.

People started noticing. They started driving by -- very slowly.

Larry noticed.

Seeing how much people enjoyed his work inspired Larry to do more.

This all started around 1964 or 1965. Heidi Koopman, who now lives in that house with her husband, Dean, says there is some disagreement on exactly which year the display began; she just knows the displays began before she was born.

Larry added to the display every year. As new characters and technology became part of the American culture, they became part of Larry's light display. A smiley-face with a Santa hat. Scooby Doo. Dagwood and Blondie. The Flinstones. The 101 Dalmations (count 'em). The Space Race was big in the early years of Larry's work. A Santa in a rocket, and another in a landing capsule, are still part of the display.

For several years, Larry and Carolyn would dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Santa, and greet the many people who traveled from all over Iowa (and beyond) to see the display.

"Dad was my Santa Claus," said Heidi. One of her first childhood memories is helping to color a dog house that her father included in one of his earlier displays. Heidi remembers how impressive it was to see what her father was doing, and to be invited at that age to be a part of it.

Now, Heidi and Dean are carrying Larry's tradition into its fifth decade.

Favorite display

"It's all dad's ingenuity," says Heidi.

I ask what her favorite display is.

"The airplane," she replies.

I know exactly what she means because just a few hours earlier, I stood in the ditch along the fence, closely examining that airplane. Larry used a wooden barrel, a couple of fan blades and even a hubcap, to make a unique flying machine that even has an enclosed cockpit to keep the Santa who pilots it safe from the elements.

While most of us would look in an old shop building and see a pile of used parts, Larry looked at that pile and saw: Santa flying a bi-plane.

So, he built it.

Larry built all of his displays that way: A Christmas crane. A carousel featuring cartoon characters. An eagle flapping its wings. Moving reindeer. He created them all, using motors, chains, gears, belts, and other items he found around his shop.

Heidi shares her father's love of Christmas. She especially loves watching families drive by, and seeing the children -- even babies, and yes, at times the family dog -- earnestly looking out the window at the lights and the action.

"I love to see the little ones cooing and giggling," she said.

Since her parent's deaths several years ago, Heidi and Dean have kept the tradition going, starting each fall to have the display ready for the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Yes, the project is as challenging and time-consuming as it seems. Heidi said they close the display shortly after Christmas (The last day for the lights this year is Dec. 28) so they can begin disassembling the lights and displays.

Larry's creations are now nearly 50 years old, and showing signs of wear. Mike Hepker, a family friend, has very important role in repairing those things that Larry built. Heidi says Mike is so adept at this that usually she can explain the problem over the telephone and he can identify the way to fix it.

"He's been a real steady help for us," she says.

In addition to jobs and other duties of life, the Koopmans battle the elements and time in working to keep their display doing. The storm of July 2011 severely damaged trees; the display that year was smaller than usual because of the many hours the couple had to spend removing damaged trees and branches from their wooded yard, where the lights are hung.

Also, the fact that those moving machines are decades old means there is a constant need for upkeep. The evening that we spoke Heidi had gone out to investigate a problem with the Care Bears Ferris wheel, and part of it broke off in her hand, presenting another project for Mike.

"Why I do it"

During our conversation nearly 20 years ago, Larry told me that he was asked so many times why he began and continued his display, that he wrote a poem about it. He gave me that poem that day. Now, I am passing it on to you:

I do it to bring a little Christmas cheer

If for only a few days a year

I do it to change the faces of little children of sadness and fright

Into faces of happiness and delight.

I do it to help warm your heart and soul

Something you can't do with fire and coal

I do it to bring smiles on the faces

Of people from near and faraway places

I do it to see the many colored lights glow

And place their pretty reflections upon the ice and snow

I do it to help you remember days gone by

And what could I have changed and why

I do it to help you remember the times when you were down and really sad

But isn't it more fun to be happy and glad?

I do it to help you remember the reason for the season -- it's God's birthday

Happy birthday, God -- we are glad you were born in every way

Five decades; five generations

It occurs to me that Larry's display has been brightening Christmas for thousands of Iowans for nearly a half-century. You can safely say that his display has been seen hundreds of thousands of times, if not a million, or more.

Five generations of Close family members have made that trek. My grandparents and parents took me; we took our children. Now, our granddaughters have seen it. I suppose you can count that many generations, or more, in your own family who have seen that Santa.

Hours

"Be sure to let people know what our hours are," says Heidi.

From Monday through Thursday, the lights go on at dusk and remain on until 9:30 p.m. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, they stay on until 10 p.m. The Koopmans will turn off the display for the season next Saturday Dec. 28, at 10 p.m.