Coyle family wins Fairfield’s Christmas Light Showdown

FAIRFIELD – The home of Shaun and Cristi Coyle won first place in Fairfield’s Christmas Light Showdown this past weekend.

The Coyles’ home at 800 Sunset Drive received the most votes in the two-night contest held Dec. 13-14 and organized by Visit Fairfield Iowa. Seventeen homes participated in the event, now in its second year. Visit Fairfield Executive Director Terry Baker said there were over 200 votes turned in, and the response from participants was overwhelmingly positive.

“Despite the bad weather, people still forged ahead and took the time to vote,” she said. “Part of my reason for doing this event is to create community engagement by giving families and friends an activity to do that is fun and festive, and we accomplished that.”

Baker said the winning entry in the contest was outstanding. The Coyles’ home, garage and yard are all brightly illuminated, plus they have multiple yard ornaments and inflatables. But the most extraordinary part of the Coyles’ display is that the lights flicker to music, which residents can follow along with by tuning their car radio to 107.9 FM. Cristi Coyle said they have been doing this with their Christmas light display since 2010, and it has grown as technology has improved.

“Each year, we try to add new elements to the display,” she said.

Cristi said it takes about six hours to program 30 seconds of music to get the song properly synchronized. The family enlists the help of friends to put up all the lights, which can take up to a month, starting in October and finishing just before Thanksgiving.

“We both love the Christmas season and enjoy hearing the kids and adults alike saying, ‘Look at this, look at that’ ... that is why we do it every year,” Cristi said. “We want to bring joy, even if just for five minutes. You never know what battles people may be facing.”

Cristi said there’s still time to catch their Christmas light display, which they turn on from 4:20-8:10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and until 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. They will leave it on through New Year’s Eve.

Second place in the contest went to Stephanie Wharton at 913 S. 6 th St. Baker said Wharton’s display has a wonderful projection of elves and their workshop. Third place went to Timothy Wallace at 305 S. 12 th St. Unit A, across the street from Hy-Vee. Baker said that Wallace has been improving the display every year, and “knocked it out of the park” this year.

Four homes tied for fourth place, so they are all receiving recognition as an Honorable Mention. Those four were Ashlyn and John Spurgeon at 703 S. 33 rd St., Erin Deprey at 605 N. Third St., Jason and Heather Loveland at 700 W. Stone Ave., and Vickie Heald at 1205 S. Fifth St.

Last year’s winning home was the James A. Beck house at 401 E. Burlington Ave., owned by Richard and Kendra Lint. Baker said the contest’s winners have to take a few years off, so even though the Lints couldn’t compete this year, they still participated in the Christmas Light Showdown by going around and providing commentary on which homes had the most difficult installations.

Mack’s Automotive donated prizes for the top finishers. The company’s owner, Jason Craun, said this is the second year Mack’s Automotive has sponsored the event.

“We doubled our prize money this year,” Craun said. “I’m all about anything local. It’s fun driving around, and everybody gets to vote. I’m anxious to see what next year brings.”

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com