LAHARPE — A Christmas light display 20 years in the making may be ending soon.
Susan Knavel, who with her husband Don have turned their home into a lighted holiday showpiece each Christmas, has been dealing with vandals this year.
They’d prefer to keep the display up and going, “but what’s the point if this keeps happening?” she asked.
Knavel spoke Thursday morning after finding more strings of lights had been cut in her yard the night prior. The overnight damage was the fifth straight night the Knavels have had something destroyed.
“We just don’t understand why somebody would do this,” Knavel said. “This is heart-breaking.”
Most of the vandalism involves cutting the strings of lights.
The perpetrator cut one small strand into pieces, and then somewhat meticulously placed the pieces atop one of her many lighted reindeer, perhaps so that it would be easier to find, Knavel speculated.
The vandal is becoming more brazen, she said, including cutting some wires just outside their bedroom window.
“It’s kind of creepy. It’s almost like it’s a game for them,” she lamented.
The display, which has grown each year as they’ve added various lighted animals, nativity scenes or other Christmas-themed decor, stretches for almost half a block, and when fully emblazoned can be seen from blocks away.
Their work has made the Knavel home a popular venue for visitors, and not only just from LaHarpe. Knavel has met folks from Iola, Chanute and other area communities wanting to see what she’s added.
Perhaps most heart-breaking, Knavel noted, was that her husband still hadn’t had an opportunity to put out all of their displays this year.
Now, she’s not sure if he will at all.
“This may be the last year we do this,” Knavel said. “This has never been for us. This is for the community, and LaHarpe has lots of wonderful people. But sometimes it only takes one person to ruin it.”
One neighbor who heard about the damage was so distraught that he went to others around town to solicit donations for the Knavels.
