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Holiday light display in Eula is more than
just a hobby
By Bill Whitaker
If Ed Campbell and wife Carol miss the wintry wonderlands of
Wisconsin, they're certainly doing their best to evoke the holiday
spirit.
And that counts for plenty in the wide open spaces around Eula.
In this flat, sparsely populated stretch of Callahan County,
darkness looms all the more after sundown, which is why area folks
are more than happy to have these two particular Yankees around.
It doesn't even matter that Ed, if pressed, admits to favoring
the Green Bay Packers in all pro-football bouts.
Come Thanksgiving night the Campbells switch on the lights
around their double-trailer home, illuminating a hundred or so
wooden figures they've cut from wood. The resulting Christmas
scene, celebrating all things bright and cheerful, draws people
from miles around.
So what if it all faces a wheat field?
"It's just easier to set up here," Ed said, explaining
why the display is along the side of his property rather than
out front facing FM 603. "We can't get power out to the front
and, well, the display's much more secure where we have it. But
I guess what it really comes down to is we're surrounded by wheat
field, 360 degrees of it."
Which is why people have to motor a couple of miles north of
Eula on FM 603, then drive east down the Campbell driveway, through
a wheat field, to get a good look at the display. But there are
rewards for doing so, including the candy canes Carol Campbell
merrily dispenses.
WHY, OH WHY?
A 71-year-old native of Wisconsin who first came to Texas in
1944 and retired from the Air Force in 1965, Ed says people are
forever asking why on earth he and Carol bother erecting the huge
display, especially since it is, from the perspective of some
of us city dwellers, "out in the middle of nowhere."
Most of the time, Ed dismisses his ever-growing Christmas passion
as "just a hobby." But there are indications he enjoys
certain elements of the holiday season, including the notion of
some white-haired gent dispensing toys to youngsters.
A dabbler in wood-making in his shed out back, Ed devotes much
of his time to crafting tiny wooden toys. None are original in
design, he admits, but he and Carol do give them to children on
numerous occasions, such as when they're driving across country.
For instance, he likes giving to kids a birdhouse so miniscule
you almost need a magnifying glass to inspect it.
"Of course, the first mistake is assuming it's a birdhouse,"
Ed told me. "That's a mosquito house."
To those young at heart but more mature in humor, he gives
out little boxes marked "Fat Free Mixed Nuts." When
you open the box, you find three metal nuts, each a different
size. He also gives away little wooden displays of quarters with
tiny mallets.
"A quarter-pounder, naturally," he explains.
If Ed fancies himself a sort of rustic Santa, he's also all
of Santa's elves rolled into one. His shed out back is filled
with the largest collection of tools I've ever seen, some dating
back to the last century.
As if in deference to all the hard work these tools have done
through the years, he seldom uses most of them. Instead, he has
them mounted on the wall to respect and admire.
LIGHTS! ACTION!
Beyond that, he's collected various antique items, such as
a candle-maker, pancake griddle, scrub board, cow bell, a policeman's
hat, ice tongs, an old clay bottle (with Jerusalem stamped on
it), old oil cans, vintage ice skates, even a World War I gas
mask his uncle used.
Some old relics he's unsure of, so he takes them to Wayne Sims'
barber shop in Eula.
"I been taking some of this down to the barber shop and
leaving it there for them to argue about," he said. "Now,
take that old hay fork over there. It's from Canton, Ohio. Most
people couldn't tell you what it even is. That was a real interesting
one to take down to the barber shop!
"Of course, people will tell you what they think it is,"
he said. "I don't know whether they're wrong or right."
Ed and Carol say they plan a typical Thanksgiving. Daughter
Linda and her family will be in from Merkel. A traditional holiday
feast is planned. Then Ed will hit a switch and every mouse in
the wheat fields around the Campbell place will see the lights
of Christmas.
After a while, folks from far and near will emerge from the
darkness on to the Campbell place, just as they have the past
three years, to better witness the sight themselves. And, yes,
they'll probably ask Ed and Carol why they do all this.
"The answer's obvious," Ed said. "Because we
felt like it. It's getting bigger every year, too. There's a lot
of nice people out there on the road. You'd be surprised how many
kids are around who will thrive on something like this."
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Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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