Christmas show on Lehnertz Avenue a vacation staple in Aurora for greater than 70 years

For Javier Contreras, 19, of Aurora, coming to see a vacation show supplied yearly in a neighborhood close by by no means will get previous.

“I’ve been coming right here since I used to be very younger,” he stated as his mom Rosanna stood by nodding whereas each checked out a show alongside Lehnertz Avenue in Aurora. “I adore it. It makes me comfortable due to the message of Christmas. I just like the religious aspect.”

On Sunday evening, lights and music got here on alongside Lehnertz Avenue. For greater than 70 years, residents have been telling the unique Christmas story utilizing lighted shows with verses from the Bible in addition to characters starting from clever males, shepherds and the animals they cared for.

For these searching for extra vacation points of interest, the Peanuts characters together with Charlie Brown comply with on Lehnertz Circle.

This 12 months’s opening was at 6 p.m. Sunday with the blessing of the crib which was carried out by the Rev. Matthew McMorrow from St. Joseph Catholic Church, adopted by the president of Aurora’s Lehnertz Avenue Christmas Show Committee Lisa Hardekopf providing just a few remarks.

The St. Joseph’s choir additionally carried out a few songs and requested that the gang take part.

Erin Pufunt, who handles media and advertising and marketing for the Lehnertz show, stated that is the 71st 12 months it has been celebrated with out exception, together with in the course of the pandemic.

“Throughout COVID, we had plenty of the neighborhood come and assist in addition to highschool youngsters, the soccer groups and the monitor groups got here and helped as that is clearly an older road and plenty of residents weren’t in a position to assist,” Pufunt stated. “That is particular. … It’s in regards to the story of Christmas, there’s no Santas or Rudolph.”

With a historical past seven a long time previous, Pufunt stated the legacy of the show is now multi-generational.

“It’s good that residents maintain that particular story and whenever you get all the way down to the manger it’s a pleasant change of tempo,” she stated. “Everybody final 12 months shared plenty of tales, the generations with great-grandchildren and different issues have been unimaginable.”

Hardekopf stated she moved to the neighborhood 13 years in the past however has connections to Lehnertz that return a lot farther. Her home, she stated, is displaying sheep and a shepherd this 12 months.

“We moved right here in 2009 and I’m newer within the sense of the time that I’ve lived right here, however my great-grandparents have been amongst those that began this custom 71 years in the past, and my grandparents lived in my great-grandparents’ home after I was 4,” she stated. “I’ve all the time been related to Lehnertz Avenue not directly. My Christmases have been all the time right here and this was all the time the place I wished to stay and be part of this. I recognize the connection of all of the neighbors and holding on to this custom all these years.”

Ron Summers, who stated he has lived on Lehnertz Avenue for eight years, was outdoors Sunday checking on his shows as darkness fell.

“I’m excited to be part of this and after I moved in all of the decorations are a part of the home whenever you buy it and it’s form of a shock, however then I knew what I used to be in for,” he stated. “The primary few years all of the site visitors right here was form of a shock, however you get used to it. Everyone that I’ve talked to and inform them the place I stay, all people is aware of about it. Households have been coming right here for 70-some years.”

Rosanna Contreras stated she was glad the custom of coming to Lehnertz was established way back.

“We stated again then, we now have a son and we come yearly we should always deliver him by the lights and see how we grew up again then and present him the Christmas spirit,” she stated. “It an excellent behavior – a convention – to have.”

David Danko of Aurora was as soon as once more on the opening ceremony and spoke whereas trying over the manger that he himself constructed twice – first in 1984, and once more in 2017.

“I’ve lived on Lehnertz Avenue 50 years and that is my fiftieth 12 months taking part and my thirty ninth 12 months being in command of the manger. To have influenced folks’s holidays so lengthy means rather a lot,” he stated. “The Christmas show tells the entire story of the beginning of Christ. It’s not about Santa Claus and toys. That’s on the opposite a part of the road. We simply wished to deliver again the actual story of Christmas.”

David Sharos is a contract reporter for The Beacon-Information.

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