Jones Spreads Holiday Cheer vBy Julie Eickhoff If you’ve driven through the center of Yankton over the Christmas season to view the holiday lights, it’s more than likely you’ve driven past Dr. Larry Jones’ house at 1903 Douglas Avenue. His faithful winter holiday display has even expanded to Halloween, which has become a well-visited event on All Hallows’ Eve. The friendly and hospitable retired chiropractor sat down with me to talk about how the display began, laughing as he explained it. He and his then fiancée, Paula, moved into their house nestled in on Douglas Street about 24 years ago, just before Thanksgiving. While he had been out of town visiting his parents in Miller, South Dakota over the holiday season, Paula had placed a lone strand of lights on the bushes in front of their house. She suggested to Larry that they should drive the golf cart to the front yard and put a snowman decoration behind the wheel and add lights on their interior fence. “That’s how it started,” he laughed. “Then every year I would put up more and more. I used to put up more lights, now it’s more inflatables and I put flood lights on everything.” The flood lights serve a dual purpose: helping the spectators to better see the display at night and serving as a safety feature so no one trips on the guide wires that hold down the inflatables. The display that I remember from years ago has changed over time. What once used to be over 8,000 holiday lights has now evolved into a scene of inflatable creatures. He guesses that he has about 15 different inflatables each for Halloween and Christmas. As he gets suggestions about a specific inflatable to add to his display, he finds that he often has that one already. Rita’s Is Your CC Headquarters • Hats • Headbands • Scarves • Gloves ita’s R 219 W. 3rd St., Downtown Yankton 605-260-8362 www.ritaspurse-o-nalities.com 20vHERVOICEvNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018