Kelso display lights up the night

KELSO, Mo. -- Heightened by 21st century technology, the sparkle of Christmas creativity is again brightening the night near Kelso.

Brooks and Brandon Clark started planning their holiday lights display in 2008 and first plugged it in for the 2009 season. It ran again in 2010 and 2011, raising $23,000 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., two years ago, and after a one-year hiatus, the brothers have added power and 20,000 lights for a total of 100,000.

The Clark Family Christmas Lights Show has become a regional attraction, drawing 200 to 300 vehicles a night during the week and 1,000 on weekends. It's on from 5 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until midnight on weekends through Dec. 31. Drivers can tune their radios to 87.9 FM to hear the accompanying music.

If someone were to picture a high-pressure scene inside Wanda Clark's home west of Kelso at 624 County Road 208, they'd be mistaken.

Glancing at her sons working at a computer in the next room Friday night, Clark said, "You would be amazed how quiet it is."

To avoid the traffic, she takes an alternate route home from work as a circulating nurse at Silver Springs Surgery Center in Cape Girardeau and on most nights is unbothered by the commotion outside.

"When my dad, Buster Kluesner, was still alive, he was so proud of his grandsons," she said. "Brooks asked, 'Pop, do you think anybody will come see it?'

"And Dad said, 'All it's going to take is one car.' We get letters from little children who just love it. Some of them truly believe that Santa Claus lives here," she said.

Brooks Clark, who with his brother operates Kluesner Concreters in Kelso, reported plugging in 257 channels and laying 2 1/2 miles of extension cords this year. They bought the hardware from Light-O-Rama of Glens Falls, N.Y., and invested $27,000, declining donations except to the hospital, which may be left in a decorated mailbox in front of the house.

"We're almost maxed out on power," Brooks Clark said, adding that the electric bill is only $100 a month extra because the power application is inconstant. "We have 10 songs, including 'Amazing Grace,' 'Carol of the Bells,' 'The Christmas Canon,' 'Christmas Eve Sarajevo,' 'Music Box Dancer,' 'Little Drummer Boy,' 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Wizards in Winter.'

"My brother-in-law, Brian Noack of Gordonville, helped set up the lights, and our dad, Ronnie of Jackson, has helped out," he said. "We like seeing the smiling faces, but we had no clue it would get this big. People are making it a family tradition, now, to come see our lights.

"When I was 9 years old, I put a string of lights on a bush in front of our house. I thought it was the best ever, but we lived five miles out of town and no one ever saw it."

Brandon Clark said they began "by looking on the Internet where people had done it."

"We started working with the props and spent a whole year learning the program," he said. "It will do anything we want it to: shimmer, blink, fade up and down. We have two mega-trees 20 feet tall and some smaller ones. You've got to have some creativity to do it."

Pertinent address:

624 County Road 208, Kelso, Mo.