Publication:Mt Airy News;

Date:Dec 19, 2006;

Section:Front Page;

Page Number:1

Charpiats light up holidays

By DEAN PALMER Mid-South News Service

PILOT MOUNTAIN — In the coming weeks, local residents Larry and Rachel Charpiat will serve as hosts to hundreds of old and new friends who will visit their home to enjoy the bright lights and holiday displays that have become a family Christmas tradition. This will be the couple’s second year of decorating their home on Highway 268 East, just outside of Pilot Mountain. But for Larry Charpiat, the hobby goes back 40 years. “This will be my 40th year of doing this,” he said smiling. “I’m glad we’re going to be able to have a good one. We’ve added some land, and we’re putting it to good use. We’ve added some things, and we have more room for parking.” The display’s roots can be traced to Hollywood, Fla., where as a 19-year-old in his parents’ home, Larry Charpiat worked with his father to enter a Jaycees’ sponsored Christmas home-decorating contest. The contest previously had been dominated by a local business owner who annually hired workers to decorate his home and used the contest to publicize his business. The Charpiats decided that a true family entry should win and began working on a display in the family living room. After four years of growing and developing their display, they claimed the top spot. By then, Larry Charpiat was hooked. Year after year, he continued to decorate and add to the display. When he moved to Kissimmee in 1985, Charpiat took everything along, custom building a new home to accommodate and highlight the stillgrowing display. In 1999, he and close friend Rachel Beck traveled from Florida to Hawaii to be married. A Pilot Mountain native, Beck had been taken to Orlando by her work and met Charpiat there. At first hesitant, she merged her small collection of Christmas lights with her new hus- band’s. Soon, she too was drawn in by the enthusiastic response of the thousands who came by their Kissimmee home. “It’s a lot of work,” Rachel Charpiat said, “but seeing how others enjoy it, especially the children and seniors, that’s what makes it worthwhile.” The Charpiats returned to Rachel’s hometown of Pilot Mountain near the end of 2004 and last year continued their Christmas tradition. “We had people come by from all over last year,” Rachel Charpiat said, “including people who drove from Virginia just to see it. We got a lot of ‘wow’ reactions, and some people called this a little Tanglewood.” For this year, the couple has brought back almost all of their display while making some major additions. An old corn crib has been transformed into a “Santa’s Workshop,” complete with toy-building elves, Mrs. Santa and an animated, talking Santa who tells Christmas stories. Other additions include a Christmas carousel, a snowmaking snowman, inflated characters and several animated light displays. Last year’s favorites include a 6,400-light programmed musical Christmas tree, a large nativity scene and a “Santa’s Enchanted Forest” trail featuring an amusing tribute to the couple’s Florida roots. They’ve been aided in the monumental decorating task by relatives, including their 3-year-old grandnephew, Thomas McCreary, and Rachel Charpiat’s sister, Jettie Manring. In all, the couple estimates that more than 50,000 lights are in the display but, they admit, “there’s no real way to keep track.” The Charpiats welcome all visitors and this year are offering to drive a golf cart as transportation for those who may not be able to walk throughout the property. Specific directions and examples of the display can be found at the couple’s web site, www.pilotmountainchristmas.com, where it is billed as their “Pilot Mountain Christmas Extravaganza.” Attendance for this year is off to a good start. They estimate that almost 100 people stopped by on Thanksgiving night, while others drove through without stopping. At least one local school is planning an evening field trip to the exhibit. “As a child,” Larry Charpiat said, “I always enjoyed my parents taking me around to see the lights. Now, I get to see other children experience that same joy.” “This is our way of celebrating Jesus’ birthday,” Rachel Charpiat said. “He is the reason for the season.”

Submitted photo Arches line the opening to the “Santa’s Enchanted Forest” trail at the Charpiats’ home.

Submitted photo Rachel Charpiat’s brother, Joe Beck, and his grandson, Justin Beck, check out Santa’s Workshop.