Rural Missouri - December 2023 - 9
A seemingly never-ending display of lights, decorations and more can't be missed as you drive along State Highway 151 south of Madison.
The impressive holiday tradition at Jones' Wildwood Care Center begins to take shape in September every year. The lights are illuminated on
Thanksgiving and stay on until New Year's Day.
by Paul Newton | pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop
E
qual parts excitement and relief greet Fannie Miller
as she stands in the circle driveway outside of the
assisted living facility where she's worked for a quarter
century. She's standing alongside her longtime
helpers Diana, Nancy, Christina and LeAnn as late afternoon
turns into early evening. Once the sun has dipped
below the horizon, these ladies aren't in the dark, however.
They're illuminated by the tens of thousands of holiday
lights and decorations they've spent months preparing and
setting up across the property. It's officially Christmastime
in Monroe County.
For more than two decades, visitors from across Missouri
have made the pilgrimage to the Jones' Wildwood
Care Center just south of Madison to take in the seemingly
never-ending rows of displays, trees and lights that fill up
the sprawling 5-acre property.
" There's quite a bit of pressure on us to do better every
single year, " says Fannie, the administrator of the center.
" And when we finally get everything turned on and we're
out there looking at it, we all just kind of stand there.
We're kind of in awe that we really did this. It's truly what
we love. "
Fannie started at the center in 1998. " We had a few
things in the yard back then, but nothing on the roof or
huge light displays, " she says. " After about two or three
years I started taking over and helping get everything out
for Christmas. "
It snowballed.
" It grew bigger and bigger, " says owner Chris Jones. " We
started having people stop by and look at the lights. Every
year they kept asking if we could make it bigger next year.
We ran out of room in our little red storage shed. "
DECEMBER 2023 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 9
http://www.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
Rural Missouri - December 2023
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