Thank you Dick and Alice for your labor of love! We will miss your beautiful decorations.
This is the final season Dick and Alice Kloewer will decorate their home at 4990 S. Elati St. for the holidays.
The Kloewers and their children made the announcement at the Nov. 21 Englewood City Council meeting. Their oldest son Ken talked about how the decoration started modestly 29 years ago and grew larger each year until the display attracted local and even national attention. At the conclusion of his remarks, he presented a cake to the council with decorations including a photo of the Kloewers’ home decorated for the holidays.
Dick and Alice Kloewer agreed the decision to no longer decorate for the holidays didn’t come easy.
“We just felt it was time to no longer put up the decorations because Alice and I want to pursue some other interests like traveling during the holidays,” Dick said during a break in the meeting. “So, we decided this will be the last year we will put up the display.”
Dick said it takes about 300 hours to set up the display of decorations that are all a result of his craftsmanship.
The yard full of decorations include 80 houses with glass-front walls Dick built to protect displays from the weather. Many of the houses include moving characters, Dick made happen all the movement happen by hooking up an electric motor to a bike chain and gears.
One of the trademarks of the display is the G scale garden railroad. Dick built the landscape, buildings and bridges to scale to accommodate 1,200 feet of track that is laid out so nine different trains can run through the display at the same time.
In addition there are 143 lighted balls Dick and Alice created hung in the trees. About the only thing they didn’t create are the countless thousands of lights strung in the trees and around the house and yard.
It takes a 400 amp electrical panel with a total of 28 breakers each rated at 20 amps each. While everyone agrees it can’t be cheap to operate the displays, the Kloewers have made it their practice not to discuss the size of their electric bill during the holiday season.
The Kloewers began decorating their house for the holidays 29 years ago when their first grandchild was born.
The initial decoration was a star on the tree outside the house and gradually grew, first with lights strung on the walls of the house and a Santa on the roof. That was about the time the displays began growing as building the decorations became a hobby for Dick even before he retired from his job as a carpenter in 1997.
In an interview a few years ago about the decorations, Dick Kloewer said he had fun building all the decorations. He said sometimes he would see a scene on a card, make a drawing of it, display the drawing on plywood, cut it out, paint it and use it as part of the decorations. He said it was a big help to his decoration-building hobby when his children gave him welding equipment as a gift.
The garden railroad layout is permanent but, of course, the trains and other small items are not out there all year. But when the system is in operation, the trains that travel the track of the layout represent many different eras of railroading, from steam locomotives to modern diesel engines.. There is even a dedicated line with a cog train climbing to the garage roof. The train on one of the rail line disappears from view at times because the track makes a loop through the garage. The Kloewers’ layout was a stop on the tour when the Garden Railroad Association held its convention in Denver several years ago
The holiday display on South Elati Street has received a lot of local and national publicity which, in turn, attracted visitors from all over the metro area.
During the holiday season, families bring their children to see the display and often there are buses and limousines that come by. Many times, Dick and Alice are in the yard, greeting visitors and talking about their display.
About 7 p.m. Nov. 27 there were a steady flow of vehicles moving slowly by the house so the occupants could look at the display and about a dozen families gathered around the fences to get an up close view of the decorations.
“We brought our children to see this display and this year, we are bringing our grandchildren to see it,” Littleton resident Wendy Schwartzkopf said. “I am sad to hear the family will no longer be putting up their display. But, I thank them for all the years they have decorated for the holidays and I hope they know they have brought a lot of joy to literally thousands of people.”
In the brochure the children prepared, Alice said her favorite display is the Nativity set that was one of the original pieces and her second favorite is the Harley House because she is a doll collected. Dick’s favorite is his garden railroad.
The Kloewers are offering all their decorations for sale except the all the items associated with the garden railroad. During the holidays, there will be bid sheets available and completed sheets can be dropped in the wishing well. Bids also can be made by sending an e-mail to christmaswishbid@gmail.com. Those who win the bidding can pick up the items after Jan. 5 when the Kloewers turn off the lights for good.
However, not all the elaborate holiday decorations in the area will go away. That is because Dick and Alice’s oldest son Ron and his wife will continue to put up their holiday decorations in front of their home at 5041 S.Elati St.
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