‘MR. CHRISTMAS’ TAKING A BREAK
Bill Gilfillen skipping holiday display this year to avoid drawing crowds
Beginning at sunset every night since Thanksgiving, cars have been pulling up every few minutes in front of Bill and Elaine Gilfillen’s hilltop San Marcos home. But this year, the drivers are pulling away just as quickly in sadness and alarm, rather than delight.
For the first time in 33 years, the Gilfillens’ annual 100,000-bulb holiday lighting spectacle, known as Christmas on Knob Hill, has gone dark. Because Bill will turn 83 in January, many regular visitors have been worried that poor health had forced him to retire his unofficial title as North County’s “Mr. Christmas.” But the reason for this year’s temporary lighting layoff is the pandemic.
“We did this for the good of the community, to keep people from grouping together in the front yard,” Elaine said. “I didn’t want to be the mask police out there every night and didn’t want anyone touching Bill. By next year we’ll be able to do it again, since we’ll have the vaccine to help us.”
The only thing on the Gilfillens’ front lawn this year is a small sign announcing the cancellation, though Elaine said they’re thinking of adding a statue of Santa
Claus wearing a face mask this weekend to keep the sign company.
Usually from Thanksgiving Eve until Dec. 30, the home at 1639 Knob Hill Road is bedazzled with well over 100,000 twinkling holiday lights and more than 100 illuminated and, in many cases, animated, lawn, tree and roof sculptures. From 15,000 to 20,000 people visit each holiday season, arriving in carloads from L.A., Arizona and Mexico, and by busloads from area senior communities. Many visitors who came as children are now bringing their own young families.
The Gilfillens made the decision to cancel this year’s show many months ago, since Bill — a retired Navy f light engineer — usually starts his annual decorating preparations on Sept. 1. The display he’s been gradually building each year since 1987 takes him nearly three months to unpack, test the lights, plan the design and execute entirely by himself. Every year he adds a few new items and he always creates an entirely different layout of lights and decorations.
Christmas lights hold special