HOLIDAY OF LIGHTS: TOUR BEGINS TONIGHT; FOLLOW MAP ON PAGE 2B

Pipefitter Bill Boren recently spent six hours climbing up two 50-foot pin oak trees in his front yard, stringing the 35 strands of brilliant red lights that caught the eyes of the judges in the third annual Holiday of Lights lighting contest and driving tour.

Adorned with about 5,000 lights altogether, Bill and Linda Boren's house at 3203 Kage Road is one of a number of spectacularly decorated homes in the vicinity. But judges "Jeff" Hawk and Lisa Sparkman had to pick only two residences from their sector of Cape Girardeau. (The city was divided into seven sections for the purpose of judging.)

Their other winner was up the road a way in Carolewood Estates, a dazzlingly lit home belonging to Dr. Frank Braxton and Debra Mitchell-Braxton. The large house at 1315 Ashland Hills Drive is engulfed by lights. Santa's in a gazebo cum sleigh on one side and a Nativity scene is on the other.

The 1-hour tour, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce Beautification Committee and the Convention and Visitors Bureau, begins tonight when buses depart from Plaza Galleria at 7.

Tickets, at $1 each, will be available at the galleria after 5:30 p.m. today and on Friday and Saturday, the last two days of the tour. Homes on the tour are asked to burn their lights from 7-9 p.m. all three days.

Because of time limitations, the route doesn't go by all the houses nominated or every one of the winners but is a representative tour of the city's lighting displays.

Residents also can take the tour in their own vehicles. The map is printed on page 2B of today's Southeast Missourian, and maps also are available at the chamber office, at Schnucks and at Plaza Galleria.

But Mary Spell, chairman of this year's tour, says the buses are the best way to see it. "They can look more and don't have to have their attention on driving." Singing also has been known to break out spontaneously on the buses.

Other winners chosen from the approximately 50 homes and businesses nominated for the tour are:

Section 1 -- Pam Rosenthal, 2011 Lacey, residential; Ken Voepel Insurance, 2258 Kingsway Drive, commercial.

Section 2 -- Patty and Raymond Pulliam, 1831 College, and Mr. and Mrs. Harold L. Pruitt, 618 Louis, residential; no commercial entry.

Section 3 -- Mr. and Mrs. Randall Sparkman, 3714 Hopper Road, and Jim Williamson, 607 Red Bud Circle, residential; Crown Cadillac-Olds-Nissan, 607 S. Kingshighway, commercial.

Section 4 -- Dr. Frank Braxton and Debra Mitchell-Braxton, 1315 Ashland Hills, and Bill and Linda Boren, 3203 Kage Road, residential; no commercial entries.

Section 5 -- Kevin and Kim Groves, 1852 Rampart, and Homer and Wanda Dickmann, 2516 Meadow Lane, residential; no commercial entries.

Section 6 -- Mr. and Mrs. Robert Komerech, 1717 Bertling, and the neighborhood of Bertling Street between Perry Avenue and West End Boulevard, residential; no commercial entries.

Section 7 -- Steve Windeknecht, 1452 Water St., and Dr. David and Jane O'Connell, 246 E. Cape Rock Drive, residential; Ervin's Metalsmiths-Jayson Jewelers, 115 Themis St., commercial.

There are about 10 fewer entries in the tour this year than in years past. Spell said she thinks the Great Flood of '93 is the reason. "The flood and everything have taken precedence over present things," she said. "It has been a busy year for everyone.

"I have a feeling people haven't turned their attention outward yet."

But she pointed out that three houses nominated for the tour are located on North Water Street, an area inundated by last summer's catastrophic flood.

"It shows the spirit people do have," Spell said.

The whole of Red Bud Circle is on this year's tour. Spell said neighborhood nominations have been made before. "Some of the neighbors get together and decided what kind of lights they're going to use. It reverts back to the days of backyard neighborliness."

Midwestern humility is another reason many Cape Girardeans who decorate their homes don't nominate them for the tour, Spell says. But Adele Kupchella, one of the judges and a relatively new Cape Girardeau resident, thinks the citizens ought to be proud of their Christmas decorations, both residential and commercial.

"This is as impressive as most major cities," she said.

Judges for this year's tour were Hawk, Sparkman, Charles and Adele Kupchella, Tom Holshouser, Barbara Brown, Linda Minner, Janet Esicar, Mary Stuckey, Larry Essner, Rick Bowser and John Layton.