INDEPENDENCE, Ky. — A northern Kentucky man who goes all out on Christmas decorations every year is now expanding to the house next door. Besides covering his house with every kind of Christmas light imaginable, Mark Koors is doing the same for his next-door neighbor.
He’s doing it to keep a promise to a friend he misses dearly, and make Christmas brighter for a grieving wife.
One string of lights out of place on a bush is one too many for Koors, whose house lights up Christopher Drive in Independence at night. Koors is dedicated to making his home a literal beacon of Christmas joy every holiday season.
“When I started out, I started with like three strings of lights. And that was back in ‘85. Then they’ve just gotten bigger. From three strings up, and now it’s like crazy,” he said. “I just started doing the ground, the roof and everything, and before you know it, it’s like it is now.”
Koors estimated he now uses at least 100,000 lights and 100 extension cords or more. As for his power bill, it’s “a lot higher this time of year.” And when asked how much he’s spent on lights through the years, Koors said, “I’m gonna go $100,000, I guess.”
Some may call it obsessive, but to Koors, it’s just the holiday spirit taking over.
“I love it when the kids, the older people, everybody really, comes by, and they love it, and I just love to see the happiness on their face,” he said. “I’ve got generations of people coming back now. I got people that grew up out here that when they were kids, their mom and dad brought them by. Now they’re bringing their kids by now. It makes me feel kind of old, but that’s what it’s all about. It really is.”
What else would compel him to spend a month getting everything ready for people all around the area to constantly drive by, often stopping to take pictures, all December long? For one, Koors’ husband, Steve, is a big motivating factor.
“I started it really when he got sick, when he got cancer. That’s what really motivated me back in ‘93. And I thought if he gets over it I’ll build on the display. Now he’s got COPD really bad, and he’s fighting it. And every year I just keep building it bigger and bigger for him,” Koors said.
But this year, someone else inspired Koors to decorate not only one house that could compete with Clark Griswold, but two.
“I think I outdid him this year. I think he ought to be ashamed,” he said, laughing in reference to the “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” character.
In doing so, Koors fulfilled a promise he made to his friend, Bill Stahl.
“I know Bill, who used to live there. I know he would just absolutely love it,” he said.
Mary Jo Stahl, Bill’s wife, has lived next door to Koors for 12 years.
“We’d stand on the back deck, and just watch people come through. They go, ‘I bet this is a mess for you.’ And we say, ‘no, it’s just fun.’ It is fun. People know we live next door, so they’ll come in and visit as they stop by to see his stuff. I’m good with it,” Stahl said. “Mark would say, ‘Well, I’ll just bring this over a little bit.’ And he did last year. He brought it over onto our bushes. Bill was good with it. He said I don’t care. Bill was one that never really got into decorating the outside.”
In fact, Stahl’s late husband had a creative idea for saving time on decorating.
“Sometimes he wanted to put a sign out here: ‘ditto,’ and point to theirs,” she said, laughing. “They just see that and they’re awestruck. They walk past our house because their eyes are always on that. Which is good.”
This will be Stahl’s first Christmas without her husband. Earlier this year, he was seemingly healthy, other than pain he’d been feeling in his leg after falling out of a boat two summers ago.
“He thought, ‘Oh, it’s just because I feel out of the boat.’ Went to the doctor, did some tests. They didn’t find anything. So then in February he went back to the doctor,” Stahl said. “They found cancer everywhere. And he had bone cancer in his leg. We found that out like the beginning of March, and he died on April second. But I know that he’s with God. I mean, isn’t that our purpose?”
It was a shock to everyone, including Koors.
“He tells me all the time he misses Bill. They talked like crazy,” Stahl said.
Koors recalled a previous conversation he had with Bill.
“Before he passed away, I promised him I would do their house this year if I didn’t do the backyard. And he was so excited about it and everything,” he said. “And I promised her that I would still do it, and I did it for her, and it really brightened her Christmas up.”
Koors said his neighbor was floored. “Oh God, she loved it. I mean, she was shocked. She couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Perhaps Koors did this good deed because he knows what it’s like to care for a sick spouse. Stahl said it’s more likely this is just a reflection of who her neighbor is.
“He has cut my front yard since my husband died. And I have told him he doesn’t have to do that,” she said. “He’s just very kind. Mark’s a good guy. We don’t have many like that. He’s been very, very good to me.”
Stahl said she thinks it’s bright enough on Christopher Drive for even her late husband to look down and see. And even though Christmas lights weren’t really his thing, his wife said he’s probably saying, “Go, Mark!”
Though, it’s not as if Koors needs any encouragement. He said he usually has a walk-through section in his backyard, which he wasn’t able to do this year. While he said he thinks decorating his neighbor’s house more than made up for the lack of a walk-through, he’ll just have to up the ante by doing both next Christmas.
“Yeah, I’ll just keep building, get it bigger and bigger every year,” he said.