Schools

Kingstowne Man Finalist in Patch Holiday Lights Contest

Randy DePew could win $100,000 for Fairfax County schools

Kingstowne's own Randy DePew is a regional winner and national finalist for Patch's Deck the House contest!  

You can vote for Randy's home once per day between now and January 8, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. at http://deckthehouse.patch.com/entry/222487.  

If Randy's home is the national winner, Patch will donate $100,000 to Fairfax County Public Schools.  Vote now, and vote often! More information, including rules, are available at deckthehouse.patch.com

While other people spent the days after Halloween finishing leftover candy, Kingstowne resident Randy DePew was already hard at work preparing his Christmas lights.

"I'm lucky if I get it up by the second week of December," says DePew.

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His hard work has paid off. DePew's light display is one of 24 finalists in Patch's Deck the House contest. If he wins an online vote, Fairfax County public schools will receive $100,000 from Patch. 

DePew's light display at 5601 Hereford Street is a visual feast. Santa and his reindeer have landed on the roof, while a 7-foot nutcracker stands guard. All around, lights shaped like Christmas trees pulse and flicker to music.   

Find out what's happening in Kingstowne-Rose Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Using a small broadcaster, DePew has set up an FM radio station at 106.3 FM. Onlookers in cars can tune their radios to the station to hear songs like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" while they watch the light display synced to the music. Pedestrians can hear the music from speakers around the house. 

DePew, a 25-year Kingstowne resident, became interested in Christmas light displays at a young age, when he helped his father hang them. He's been putting up his own Christmas lights for around 15 years. 

Today, DePew runs the whole operation from his laptop. Using a specialty lights program, he programs the lights and the music, and can turn off any light with a mouse-click.

"It's very complicated," DePew says, "But you know, it's not to me." DePew, who owns a construction company, attributes his skill with the light display to his work as a project manager.

The display is all powered by what DePew estimates is around five miles of electrical cables. DePew thinks he has around 50,000 lights in the display. Just one of his Christmas-tree shaped arrangements contains 6,400 bulbs.

"I've never really counted them," DePew said. "I have a lot of lights." In December, DePew says his electricity bill is $300 or $400 higher than usual.

DePew's lights have attracted attention outside of Kingstowne. He says limousine drivers will regularly pass by to show their passengers the show. And the Christmas display is popular in the neighborhood, too. 

"Parents will send the kids knocking on the door, asking when the lights will be up," DePew said. "And then you've got the grown-up kids."

DePew starts his light display at 5 p.m., with the music starting at 6 p.m. He expects to keep it up until Sunday.


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