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Holiday Lights Contest Editor's Choice Winner: DuPage County

Posted December 18, 2020 12:00 am

Daily Herald report

Rudy Vanderbiest and son Dan at their home at 1214 Easton Drive in Carol Stream. They are the Daily Herald Editor's Choice winner of the holiday lights contest for DuPage County. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

Rudy Vanderbiest, who lives at 1214 Easton Drive in Carol Stream, is the Editor's Choice winner for DuPage County in the Daily Herald's annual holiday lights contest, presented by Treetime Christmas Creations of Lake Barrington.

Voting ran Dec. 10-14, with the grand prize winner receiving a $750 Treetime Christmas Creations gift card and a $20 gift certificate from Schaumburg-based Ala Carte Entertainment. Four Editor's Choice winners (representing DuPage County, the Fox Valley, Lake County and the Northwest suburbs) received a $25 Treetime Christmas Creations gift card and a $10 Ala Carte Entertainment gift certificate.

The Daily Herald asked Vanderbiest a few questions about his holiday decorations.

Q: How long have you been decorating your house like this?

Vanderbiest: Five years, but this year is the biggest.

Q: What inspired you to go all out with your decorations?

Vanderbiest: Because of COVID I wanted to make sure kids have something fun to see. I dress up as Santa and take pictures with families on the weekend. For a schedule go to @eastonlights on Facebook.

Q: How many hours does it take to put up the display?

Vanderbiest: I took a week off work to do it. Probably 80 hours.

Q: How many strings of lights are involved?

Vanderbiest: About 30,000 lights and many animated lawn decorations and dozens of holiday figures.

Q: How much does your electric bill spike in December?

Vanderbiest: Since I went to all LED lights, my bill actually dropped about 75% of what it was.

Visit www.dailyherald.com to see the grand prize winner and the other Editor's Choice winners.

Rudy Vanderbiest and his son Dan at their home at 1214 Easton Drive in Carol Stream. They are the Daily Herald Editor's Choice winner of the holiday lights contest for DuPage County. The garage is made into Santa's workshop while the front yard is filled with lights and animatronics. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

Rudy Vanderbiest used a discarded children's yard toy to make a gingerbread house with gumdrops made from Tupperware in his yard at 1214 Easton Drive in Carol Stream. He is the Daily Herald Editor's Choice winner of the holiday lights contest for DuPage County. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

Rudy Vanderbiest created Santa's workshop in his garage at 1214 Easton Drive in Carol Stream. He dresses up as Santa on the weekends to pose for pictures with neighborhood children. He is the Daily Herald Editor's Choice winner of the holiday lights contest for DuPage County. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com

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