For nearly 50 years, thousands of people each December have slowly driven their vehicles past the Baird family farm north of Red Oak to view their beloved Christmas lights display.
One of southwest Iowa?s long lasting holiday traditions, Jack Baird and his family have been putting up their quarter-mile long Christmas display at 1233 E Avenue for almost five decades.
?It got started about 50 years ago,? Jack Baird told the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network. ?My father-in-law loved to go to junk sales and stuff. He went to one and bought a bunch of used Christmas lights. He brought them down here and we put them on the fence. I think Chris was about 8 or 9 years old at the time. The next year he wanted some more. We bought some more new lights and kept adding a little bit to them. When he got in high school, it just sort of started taking off.?
Chris Baird, Jack?s son, says the lights start going up at the beginning of October. They try to get harvest finished fast each year in order to get the display fully ready for the Christmas season.
?My dad, he?s 89, he still runs a combine and a planter in the spring,? Chris said. ?We have to kind of keep him in line sometimes to be careful, but he gets along really good. We?re on a Century Farm that?s almost 140 years in our family this particular farm here.?
This year?s display was turned on the night of December 12th. Families who drive by can see anything from Santa Claus operating a helicopter, characters from children?s shows including Peanuts and Micky Mouse Clubhouse, homemade chapels and nativity scenes, a rolling combine and tractor, and much more.
?It?s constant repair on them,? Jack said. ?We just keep adding. Since I?m getting to be an old fossil, I stay on the ground pretty much. Chris does the climbing and Sandy, my companion, she does a lot of it. She starts at the first of October fixing lights and starts putting them on the fences at about the 10th. She puts up all she can put up while we?re combining. This year we got done a little earlier, so that helped out.?
Chris says nearly 500-to-600 cars drive by each weekday evening. Saturday and Sunday are even busier with over a thousand vehicles coming by to check out the display. The lights are on from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week until the 1st of January.
?What?s really neat to me is all of the people that come and see it and say, ?when I was a kid, I came out here and now I?m bringing my own kids and grandkids,?? Chris said. ?It?s nice hearing back from people who enjoy it because it gets kind of discouraging some days trying to get all of this going. What keeps us going is that so many people enjoy it. We?ll continue to do it as long as people are interested, and we have helpers.?
Jack says many families will turn around two or three times to get as many looks in as they can. There?s no charge or fee to view the display, however, a donation box is setup along the side of the gravel road if anyone wishes to help with cost of upkeep and electricity.
?I just keep doing this because people enjoy it,? Jack said. ?I went up to a welding shop this afternoon and a guy was telling me how much people tell him they enjoy those lights. They just really enjoy them. I guess it?s just a hobby and thing we got started doing. As long as they want us to, we?ll keep going as long as we can.?
For more information on the Baird Christmas Lights, visit their Facebook page. Jack can also be reached by calling 712-623-3930. To see a quick tour of the display, check out our video below.
