Manchester Holiday Light winners: It starts with a blueprint, and a lifelong dream
Dec. 23—Ryan Kalantzis of Manchester said he has the holidays on his mind in the fall and starts in September or October sketching out where all the outdoor displays will go on the lawn. He does an inventory of all the decorations they have, and start putting up displays little by little, starting with the corners of the yard with Chad Stanton and of course, Rocky, the 2-year-old English bulldog.
Last year, their 100 Becker St. home took second place in the holiday decorations contest held by the city, Kalantzis said. They placed third the first year of the contest.
Kalantzis said, "It was always a dream of mine to be able to have a home and be able to decorate it at Christmas time," and while growing up in Manchester fondly recalls driving around to look at the many holiday displays with his family. Kalantzis and Stanton have lived in this house for the last three years.
This season they got more new displays, including a juggling snowman and new penguins. So as Kalantzis planned things on his blueprint, he said he wanted to create little scenes and group things together, group the snowmen together, the dinosaurs. Some of the displays have stories behind them, too, or pay homage to neighbors or relatives, such as a motorcycling Santa and a special Minnie Mouse.
"We put a lot of heart and soul into this," Kalantzis said. He said he feels that their holiday display and the design of some of the items are both art and an art form. There is also holiday music playing on a device that also projects images onto the side of the house, and it does feature his favorite singer, Mariah Carey. He added that this display has "slowly bloomed into something bigger and better each season," helped also by clearance finds they hit after the holidays every year, too.
Mayor Joyce Craig paid a visit to see the display in person and give them prizes and created a Facebook Live video to unveil the winners. She said, "You can't drive up the street without a smile ... I just want to thank you for the hard work you put into this because it really makes a huge difference in the community."
Manchester Radio Group provided two restaurant gift cards, and a plaque from the city is forthcoming.
Watch and enjoy the video on Facebook on the Mayor's Facebook page here: https://fb.watch/hAdFtMCh_l/
