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Christmas Lights Love

Photo by KELVIN MA/staff

Amelia, 8, and Mark Fong, 2, of Seffner, peek through the giant telescope to the North Pole at Christmas Lane as their mother, Barbara Fong, looks on on Dec. 12, 2007.

By RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

DOVER - Among the galaxy of lights at Christmas Lane, one thing shone the brightest in her eyes and caught her attention.

His name was Scotty Jenkins.

As Kendall Burnette gazed from afar, she wished for some way to get closer to him.

Jenkins and other volunteers were assembling a 35-foot-tall tree, the centerpiece of the elaborate holiday exhibit owned and operated by Lane Wetherington and his family on their Wooten Road strawberry farm.

Jenkins would definitely notice her, Burnette thought, if she, too, volunteered at Christmas Lane.

"I started that day," she said.

She worked the concession stand and Jenkins performed maintenance on the choo-choo trains, motorized holiday carousels and forests of giant candy canes, lollipops and gumdrops the Wetheringtons had collected in the 27 years they have run Christmas Lane.

Jenkins was soft-spoken and shy, so after a few days, Burnette made the first move.

"I was pretty bold," she said.

She placed a note under the windshield wiper of Jenkins' truck. She had written her phone number and two words: "Call me."

Jenkins gave her a ring that night. Her cheerful, easy-going personality quickly won him over, he said.

About a year later, on Christmas Day 2005, he gave Burnette another ring, one with a diamond she could wear on her finger.

Dec. 29, Burnette, now 20, and Jenkins, 21, are getting married in a cowboy-themed wedding at Christmas Lane. They will take their vows in front of the Wetheringtons' expansive ranch-style home on a stage usually reserved for local singers that entertain crowds with carols.

The public ceremony will be followed by a private reception in the 6,300-square-foot barn where the Wetheringtons store the thousands of holiday decorations during the other 11 months of the year.

Lane Wetherington said he decided to keep Christmas Lane open an extra day this year to accommodate the wedding.

"It's an honor for us to be asked to have it hosted here," said Wetherington, who will be Jenkins' best man. "It's going to be a beautiful evening."

Burnette and Jenkins are the only volunteers who have fallen for each other and chose to have their wedding at Christmas Lane, said Wetherington, 44.

"I had no clue that this would ever happen," he said.

The threads of fate that join the three families together - and would eventually tie the knot between Burnette and Jenkins - can be traced back to Wetherington's fascination with Christmas lights when he was 14.

"I always wanted to put the lights on the house right after Thanksgiving," Wetherington said.

He had a few dozen rows of lights in those early days and strung them up on the eaves of the house and the trees in the yard. Because his birthday was in November, Wetherington would ask his family to give him the gift of lights so he could make the display bigger every Christmas.

Through the years, Wetherington amassed more than 250,000 lights. He talked to the management of local shopping malls and persuaded them to donate old Santa Claus sleighs, Nutcracker soldiers, electric candles and other items he could use to create themed displays in his parents' front yard.

"We've lived here 50 years," said Wetherington's father, Ron. "First, we had a little string of lights around the house. Then the kids came along and we put up two strings. Then Lane comes along and now we got this."

Friends and neighbors helped Lane Wetherington set up the exhibit, which soon became so elaborate and needed so much power that the family paid a local electric company to install additional generators on the property to pump out 1,000 amps. A typical household needs about 100 amps, Wetherington said.

Wetherington's mother, Faye, came up with the name Christmas Lane. The logo glows in cool hues of neon on a sign near the entrance to the farm. It is embroidered on the green shirts and baseball caps worn by more than 200 volunteers. It is printed on fliers and posters that attract about 45,000 people annually, Wetherington said.

In 2002, one of those visitors was Scotty Jenkins, who was 16 at the time and a student at Durant High School. He became enamored with Christmas Lane and volunteered soon after. He and Wetherington became fast friends, and the strawberry grower now thinks of Jenkins as his kid brother.

"He's such a respectful young man," Wetherington said. "It's unbelievable. He's so level-headed for his age."

In 2004, Kendall Burnette visited Christmas Lane with a group of her friends from Plant City High School. That is when she saw Jenkins help assemble the 35-foot-tall tree. She was already attracted to him, she said, because she often saw him when their schools would participate in FFA conventions.

Jenkins' father said he cannot wait until Burnette is his daughter-in-law.

"She's just a good kid," said Newton Jenkins. "She's so funny. She tries to make you laugh. It's good to hear they're getting married."

The couple's story and their upcoming wedding impressed recent visitors.

"I think that's awesome," said Kay Hey of Plant City.

"What a wonderful setting for a wedding," said Tony Hey, Kay's husband.

Scotty Jenkins smiles with chagrin when he thinks of how his and Burnette's paths crossed at Christmas Lane.

If Lane Wetherington did not love Christmas lights as much as he did and his parents never indulged him in his hobby, "I'd never have met her," Jenkins said. "I'd like to thank Lane for that."

When they are not basking in the glow of the holidays, the couple work together at Harold's Feed & Pet Store, a thriving farm supply business owned by Burnette's family. Jenkins works there full time, and his bride-to-be splits her time between the store and classes at Hillsborough Community College.

Burnette said she already has two of the best Christmas presents a girl could get, an engagement and a new house - courtesy of the couple's parents, who helped secure a home in Plant City.

"My wishes were already granted," she said.

The holiday has played such a large role in their lives, the couple said.

So, of course, has Christmas Lane.

"It's a good place for families to come and realize what the holidays are all about," Jenkins said.

"It's a good place for a family to get together and be a family," Burnette said.

The glowing array of winter wonders, they said, will always be remembered as the place where they started their family.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Christmas Lane, featuring more than a dozen displays, including train rides for children, a 35-foot-tall tree, live music, photographs with Santa Claus and more

WHERE: 2091 S. Wooten Road, Dover

DIRECTIONS: Eastbound on Interstate 4, take Exit 14; south on McIntosh Road to County Road 574 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). South on Dover Road about 1 mile to Wooten Road.

WHEN: 6 to 10 p.m. daily through Dec. 29; the display is closed during inclement weather

COST: There is no charge for admission and parking, but there is a donation box near the front entrance.

ONLINE: www.christmaslane.org

BY THE NUMBERS

250,000: Total lights

72,000: Lights on the 35-foot-tall tree

45,000: Visitors each year

$4,000: Average monthly electric bill

1,000: Amps required for power

200: Volunteers

50: Days needed to set up display

27: Years in operation