The Stark family goes big for Christmas

Christmas is a time of traditions that pass from generation to generation, and Michael and Heidi Stark are keeping their family tradition alive. At their home at 853 Bowling Green Drive, hundreds of Christmas decorations line their lawn — from lights to inflatables to blow molds.

The tradition started at Michael’s childhood home. In Queens Village, Michael’s parents Andrew and Dottie would decorate their house to the nines with thousands of dollars in decorations.

“My father did it every year before he died and then my mother kept it up until she died and then I did it,” Michael said. “I’m just going to keep doing it and doing it and doing it. I mostly do it just for the children because it puts a big smile on their face.”

The Stark’s moved to Salisbury three years ago, but they used to decorate their house the same way when they lived in Whitestone. “We’re really big Christmas people,” Heidi joked. “We don’t decorate for any other holiday besides Christmas.”

There are more than 35 12-to-15-foot inflatables on their front lawn with lights strung on the house and the roof. There’s a collection of different blow molds — from teddy bears to choir singers to penguins — strategically placed on the lawn as well.

Roughly 197 extension cords keep everything up and running.

The set up starts before Halloween because Michael does it all himself. He spends five or six hours a night putting things up and perfecting it. “On weekends and my days off,” he said. “I’m out there even longer from eight in the morning to sunset.”

The house attracts a lot of people, Michael said. Even in the rain they’ll have 30 to 40 people outside admiring his work. “I give out free candy and I give out free hot chocolate on the weekends,” he said. “A lot of people wait until I light up the house and then they come around like crazy.”

Michael said he shops throughout the spring and summer for pieces to add to the display, mostly on Amazon. He also checks if anyone is selling any blow molds or old ceramic houses, because those are hard to come by. Everything is stored in roughly 45 boxes in his basement.

As for his electric bill, a budget is created so that it doesn’t become an astronomical amount. “I go on a budget just for Christmas time,” Michael explained. “So we take out a budget of $250 just to play it safe, but we have never gone over the $200 range.”

Michael said that it helps that he works all day — as a plumber for over 20 years — so the lights are only on from 6:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. He doesn’t turn it on when it rains or is extremely windy to protect his inflatables. “I have thousands of dollars worth of blow ups,” Michael said. “They’re not cheap.”

The lights and inflatables get turned on in a specific order. One by one, Michael will switch them on because he likes to see everything blow up.

The inflatables come down right after Christmas to protect them in case of heavy snow. The lights stay up until Little Christmas, Jan. 6.

It’s hard for Michael to pick a favorite with so many items, but one thing is certain, he doesn’t like when a house looks cluttered with decorations.

“I like everything that has to do with Christmas, I like it no matter what,” he said. “I drive around a lot and I see a lot of houses that are done and they’ve got 40 snowman and 20 Santa Clauses, that’s too much clutter.

“I like it when it’s nice and it’s set up perfect, and if I don’t like where it’s set up, I’m moving it somewhere else where it fits perfectly.”

For the past two years, the Starks added something special to go with their light display. A Toys for Tots box was set up outside their house to collect toys starting after Thanksgiving. The toys were dropped off on Dec. 17. Over the years they’ve given over 500 toys.

“We had two car loads,” Heidi said. “I posted on local Facebook pages and my personal page and people from work gave me toys. The community really pitched in.”

Michael really prides himself on spreading Christmas spirit throughout the area. He said before he moved in and started decorating, not that many houses had lights up.

“Now, since I started doing the big display, a lot of houses started decorating, my neighbors started putting lights up, and it’s helped out,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll help the neighbors decorate their house. If I see something that’s not lit up I’ll take some of my lights and see if I can get it working.”

Next year, Michael wants to go bigger. He’s looking to work with the Town of Hempstead to put an archway over the road filled with lights to turn the block into a winter wonderland. He’s considering getting a snow machine and seeing if Santa will pay a visit.

At the end of the day, though, everything is done for the kids.

“Our one neighbor across the street tells us that whenever his grandkids come over they just sit and wait until we turn the lights on,” Heidi said.

“As soon as they see me pull up my truck coming home from work, they’re already out the door and waiting for me to turn on the lights,” Michael added. “I love it.”