Christmastime Spirit by the Yardful

Some say the neighborhood has lost some of its luster, and the thousands who forsake their cars for a walking tour of Fountain Valley’s “winter wonderland” this week won’t see as many elaborate Christmas displays as in years past.

But if the volume of imitation snow blanketing lawns in the seven-block area is an accurate gauge, this is the neighborhood’s whitest and brightest since the residents began staging their annual Christmas spectacle more than 30 years ago.

And one who helped start the tradition in 1969 thinks today’s visitors merely need to walk a little farther to view the eye-catching displays of mechanical Santas and toiling elves that once were clustered on only two streets, but are now scattered throughout the tiny tract of 1960s- and ‘70s-era homes.

The area has lured so many Christmastime visitors over the years that the Fountain Valley police in 1990 began closing the streets to nonresidents’ cars between 6:30 and 10 p.m. during the two weeks before Christmas. Police say the ban on outside vehicular traffic has been relaxed since 2000, because of declining need.

This year, limitations were imposed on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights of the two weekends before Christmas.

Craig Brashear, 37, whose frontyard features a miniature ski station with a tiny ski lift, has spent most of his life in the neighborhood. His parents’ home is just two doors from his on Shadbush Street at Dandelion Circle.

He said residents pleaded for the restrictions when the traffic became unbearable, and idling cars belching exhaust fumes began to detract from the almost magical atmosphere of the place.

“It was a little like trying to enjoy Main Street at Disneyland with cars all over the place. Not much fun,” he said.

But now, he said, he can’t imagine “a better neighborhood than this when it comes to Christmastime. I was out walking the streets the other night after the police had blocked traffic into the neighborhood. That’s the best time. You see people walking around with their families and stuff. People being together, being happy. It’s what Christmas should be.”

Joe Finnell, 69, lives next to Brashear and has become the neighborhood supplier of giant rolls of white polyester batting. The batting, normally used in quilts or cushions, adorns dozens of local lawns, creating the illusion of snow that doesn’t come naturally to this part of Southern California.

Finnell is generally credited with being the first resident to erect an elaborate Christmas display in the neighborhood, thus starting what became an enduring tradition.

“This year, we ordered 90 rolls of batting. And they’re big rolls -- 10 feet wide by 90 feet -- enough to cover an entire frontyard and then some. That’s the most we’ve ever bought,” Finnell said.

Unimpressed with the decorations that were commercially available, the retired McDonnell-Douglas engineer created and installed traveling Christmas lights around the eaves of his home long before it became popular.

And he still talks about the engineering challenges he faced 25 years ago creating a yard display that has become an annual favorite -- a mechanical youngster who throws Styrofoam snowballs at another every six to eight seconds, prompting the youngster who gets hit to spin around to look at his attacker.

An informal competition among neighborhood residents grew more intense in the mid-1970s, shortly after Julie and Rocky Fleeman moved into their home on Dahlia Circle, a blocklong cul de sac that is the showcase of the neighborhood.

“We used to simply string lights around the eaves like most people do. But then, on a trip to New Orleans more than 20 years ago, we spotted a mechanical Santa Claus at a sidewalk sale. It was broken. But my husband said, ‘Oh, that’s no problem. I’ll just tear open his chest and put a new motor in it.’ That was the beginning.

“I guess we did escalate the war, so to speak,” Julie Fleeman said.

This year, the Fleemans’ home has three animated displays in upstairs windows that would make the window-dressers at Macy’s in New York City proud. One features the mechanical Santa rescued from New Orleans, another features Mrs. Claus, while a third has a pair of dancing bears.

The Fleemans’ snowy white yard has a wishing well this year. In years past it has been populated with human-sized gingerbread men.

Next door, John and Patricia Laur have transformed their lawn into a scene from “101 Dalmatians,” a theme chosen by their grandchildren.

“We just happened to have the coloring book, and my wife and I bought a projector,” Laur said. “We started projecting the images up on 4-by-8-foot sheets of plywood, and ending up making 23 characters.”

Laur is among those in the neighborhood who think that as years go by, fewer and fewer families are erecting fancy Christmas displays. He believes this is largely due to the changing ethnic makeup of the neighborhood.

Census figures show that the number of foreign-born residents in the tract, most of them from east Asia, increased from 20% in 1990 to 30% in 2000.

Julie Fleeman said Christmas is always an exciting time in the neighborhood, as residents begin to erect their displays, some requiring weeks of work. Her own is so elaborate that she borrows a hydraulic cherry-picker lift to arrange some of the lighting that graces her home’s facade.

“We have people coming all the time and telling us they first saw our house when they were little kids. And now they’re coming back with children of their own,” Fleeman said.

“What else could you do that gives so much pleasure to so many people? It makes your heart warm.”