Meet the Owner: All Those Decorations on Third Street

the-house-on-third-street

A few weeks back, we published the 10 Signs That You Might Be From Beaver article. If you read it, you know that we received a lot of feedback on it. Love that feedback!! Keep it coming!!

This article is a special shout-out to number 9 on the list – “You look forward to the changing of the seasons and holidays, and the corresponding law decoration updates at the house across from the cemetery on Third”. 

I know you know this house. It is bright and festive, and it livens up Third Street.

We try to do our best to brighten up our street around Christmas, but it never works out. Lights half out, wreaths blown off windows… It’s actually the reverse of festive. Somehow this house is able to be festive and put-together all year round. Amazing!

Meet the Owner

One of the many emails we received on the article was from Mike, the nephew of Gary, who is the responsible party for these displays! Unfortunately with the new baby (um, have I mentioned what sort of fresh chaos two kids under three years old is??), I was unable to meet Gary to talk to him in person BUT I was able to get a few questions that I had over to him via email. Here they are!

How long has he been decorating his yard?

He started on a smaller scale when he initially moved into the house in 1973, so for a little over 40 years.

What holiday or theme is his favorite?

Gary’s favorite is Christmas, followed by Halloween and then Easter.  He also likes to come up with new ideas every year and he said it is his biggest challenge!

How long does it take for him to finish a display?

He said that this depends on which holiday he is decorating for. Christmas and Halloween take around 3 weeks, and the others take 10-14 days, and they all are at the mercy of the weather.

Gary makes all of the wooden cutouts himself, so I asked how many he has made and if he has a favorite.  He said that there are too many to count. The first sets of cutouts that he made were the Charlie Brown characters. They were made in the early 80s with the help of his brother Dennis. Gary made the cutouts and Dennis was the painter. His favorites are those first Charlie Brown characters.

Does he know how many lights he uses?

This also depends on the holiday, however for Christmas there are around 1,200 lights used between the front and the back of the house. (Authors note here – I didn’t realize the back was decorated too! Has anyone else noticed this??)

Gary also wanted me to know that he has a special assistant helping him with the displays – His 9yr old nephew.

And finally, the only return he is looking for is that people are enjoying the displays and they make someone happy. It makes him happy to make others happy.

Let’s all let that soak in for a minute! This has nothing to do with being a Cake Eater, or living on the good or bad side of town. 

He spends all of that time for the joy of others. Now that is commendable! We need more Gary’s in this world, that much I know for sure.

So, let me just give a big thank you to Gary (and his nephew) for decorating and brightening up the town as you do! I really enjoy seeing the displays on walks through the cemetery and as I drive through town, and my kids love driving past at night when the lights are on. Keep up the awesome work!!

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Comments

  1. says

    While my mother was in recovery in Beaver after extensive surgery our whole family enjoyed looking at Mike’s decorations in his front yard driving back and forth to East Liverpool…we started with Christmas and the last was Easter and it made it such a treat each time we made the trip and got our mind off of Mother’s illness (which she did recover) and we had something bright and friendly too look at as we entered Beaver, Pa and as we left…
    Many many thanks….

    • Mike says

      Those aren’t my decorations. Those are my Uncle Gary’s. All credit goes to him. I’ll be sure to share this with him, Anna!

    • Ann Hollenbaugh says

      Gary always does a great job beautifying the street he lives on. He’s a wonderful young man that enjoys making others happy.

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