It's your last year to see holiday lights at Durst place
Janet Kubat Willette
Date Modified: 01/04/2010 3:40 PM
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Agri News staff writer
MANTORVILLE, Minn. -- A breathtaking display of Christmas spirit awaits visitors at the rural home of Kenny Durst and Janice Borgstrom-Durst.
The couple began decorating their farmstead 12 years ago. They put lights on the house and a nativity scene on the lawn.
Those lights and the nativity scene have gotten a lot of company through the years.
Durst added street lights from Rochester Community and Technical College that were no longer in use at the college. They put carolers by a firepit glowing red near the gazebo. A stoplight warns people traveling through to watch for low-flying reindeer.
It's impossible to see everything and the couple smiles about the cars who circle through their circle drive repeatedly.
The couple draw joy from the display. Durst enjoys "seeing the joy it brings other people."
It's also rewarding to see everything working after the weeks of work he invests to get everything looking just right. He's a stickler for detail, plugging everything in tight so the lights shine bright through snow and sleet. He rigged up a wire to keep the snowflakes hanging on the house from blowing up onto the house. There's also suppports to keep decorations from tipping in the wind.
Borgstrom-Durst treasures the response from children who marvel at the winter wonderland they've created. She shares the memory of a tiny little voice shouting "stop, it's Santa," which she overhead while tinkering outside in the playhouse while vehicles drove through.
But the couple have decided this will be their last year of decorating their entire yard. It's gotten to be a lot of work and both struggled with health issues this year, he injured his right hand in a farm accident and she battled breast cancer. They are also preparing for a move to town in a few years.
"It's been fun," Borgstrom-Durst said. "We'll do something different now."