In the middle of August, the Groves family is hoping for nothing short of a Christmas miracle.
A devastating garage fire late last week left approximately $20,000 worth of damage, including damage to parts of their annual Christmas lights display. Scott Groves said it is a community tradition they spent nearly a decade building.
“All of the Christmas display was in there,” Groves said. “We had all the computer boards already set up, we started set up two weeks ago. We started putting lights out, started running extension cords.
“I picked up my main programming laptop and dumped water out of it and shook it out – it’s just like, ‘oh man.'”
The Groves have been putting on the notorious display for eight years, and after the fire weren’t sure where to start cleaning up.
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Groves said the main programming boards that control the light show are being assessed for damages, which is a process that can last up to three months.
“If it’s going to be three months – we’re not going to have a 2016 display.”
“Just devastation and wow, what’s it going to take to put this back together and make a display here for 2016,” Groves said.
However, those thoughts didn’t last long. The family started a GoFundMe page in an effort to raise money so that the show can go on.
“I managed to pull, you know, a bunch of the extension cords out,” Groves said. “Some of the bigger elements of the display, they’ll need a really good cleaning but I think they will still work.”
The already busy time of the year for the Groves has now gotten busier. They hope the community will step up to help continue the Christmas tradition.
“Everybody we talk to is all gung-ho to help us. We’re going to make it happen,” Groves said.
“Everybody is going to help and it’s going to be the best display ever.”
The Groves family said while the Grinch did try to steal Christmas early this year, he didn’t succeed and they will do everything they can to have the lights turned on, come December.
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