A Kokomo tradition during the Christmas holiday season for the past 14 years is coming to an end.
Families from around the area would make the annual visit to the home of Darrell and Bruce Blasius on East Sycamore Street to see their restored Victorian-era home decked out for the holiday. The display featured more than 150 Christmas trees, complete with a small-scale village and train set.
The Blasiuses reluctantly put the house up for sale this week. With Bruce recently undergoing open-heart surgery and no longer able to climb stairs, they didn’t have a choice but to sell the two-story home, Darrell said.
Unless someone comes forward to keep the tradition alive, they will also sell most of the 150 Christmas trees used to decorate the home annually.
“We started with an open house in 1997 from the Designer Show Home,” said Darrell. “That same year, we started the open house for We Care.”
The Christmas Tree House has grown over the years from 25 trees to 150 trees and 55,000 decorative lights. Each of the home’s 13 rooms had a different theme.
Mike Christopher, general manager of WWKI and We Care spokesman, said the Christmas Tree House added to the holiday spirit.
“It was a valuable Kokomo tradition that will be lost unless someone else steps forward,” he said.
Christopher said the monetary donations from house tours have been substantial.
“We would really love for someone to buy the house and take it over,” Darrell said. “I don’t know how many people would be committed to doing it.
“It’s a full-time job,” he continued. “It’s six months a year for Christmas: from the time we’re setting up, it opens the Saturday of Thanksgiving through January.”
Darrell said it takes until late March or early April to take down the decorations. He said that leaves six months for vacations and working on other projects.
“We would like to put the word out, anyone interested in taking it over or buying the house to contact us,” he said. “We don’t know what we’re going to do with 150 Christmas trees. We’re going to sell most all of the trees with the ornaments.
“This is going to be sad,” Darrell said. “This was not something we had planned.”
During a 2009 interview, Darrell said, “Christmas is supposed to be a time of sharing, and this is our way of sharing with the community.”
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