Cara Poe's anachronistic toy island lives in her grassy front yard in Hawthorne. 

The couple were made of PVC pipes and old lamps. Her husband Jimmy and she salvaged them from the trash can in St. Augustine. The couple showed their Christmas spirit through the silhouettes of lights and packages.  

After the people in the community who were known for their holiday decorations could no longer hang lights, set up train tracks, or create his magnificent presentation, Poes felt the need to create a large display. 

Five years ago, Richard Mason could not decorate his home on the body of NE County Road 234, leaving the community without his famous exhibition that attracted thousands of people every year. 

In the 1970s, Mason's Christmas decorations began to attract attention, and by the 1990s, it was estimated that 40,000 people visited each year. 

According to his daughter Belinda Chapman, his celebration of lights has become more and more popular over the years. Her streets were crowded with cars. She said that once, Mason used more than 100,000 lights. 

When he could no longer build the monitor, the residents quickly noticed. 

"We noticed that the monitor was not there," Cara Poe said. "It's like,'Gosh, I hope nothing happened to Mr.'s.'"

Cara Poe grew up in Gainesville and grew up watching Mason's display, trying to find the little details that he changes every year to increase excitement. Last year, when Mason went to the Persian house to look at their lamp, the table turned. This was the last display he saw. 

Chapman said that after Mason had a stroke, she heard a "bang" that night and she went out to turn off the lights. About a month later, he died in January 2021 at the age of 83. In order to preserve the memory of Mason, his daughter and granddaughter Madison Chapman distributed his decorations to two local residents, including about 80 decorations for Poe. 

Madison Chapman said that they gave away about 110 decorations from her grandfather, worth about $30,000, because she didn't want to sell them to strangers. She wants to give them to someone she trusts, who will take care of the decorations and use them correctly. 

Belinda Chapman said that her father started making his own exhibits to make her happy because she liked seeing Christmas lights. 

The Chapmans believe that they grew up with Santa Claus.

"It still works for me," Belinda Chapman said. "When I'm old, it's for the community."

David Terrell used to ride a bicycle near Mason's house and watched an exhibition at the Windsor Christian Academy. He and his wife Tanya, 41, showed off some of Mason's decorations. 

Tanya Terrell, who calls herself a "Christmas lunatic," originally wanted to decorate Chapman's home. Instead, Mason's family gave her about 30 decorations, including lawn figurines, for her property in Stark. She used these items to show off displays that the community can enjoy, while commemorating Mason by building her own decorations. 

 "I want to try [to] to keep the truth of what he did," she said. 

Cara Poe said that she hopes to do the same in her home, which is located at 219A Southeast County Road near the intersection of SE 24 Avenue. Mason used PVC pipes to create a "Merry Christmas" structure over 3 feet tall, sitting on the fence at the end of her front yard. 

Using his design, she wrapped metal trains, gingerbread men, and other Christmas-related frames with white plastic to protect them from moisture and spiders. 

Jimmy and Kara used a golf cart to traverse their 4 acres of land to decorate their home. They opened an exhibition for people to watch on Thanksgiving. Visitors can park their car at the Eden Baptist Church, two doors away from the house, and read the walking display carefully, inspired by Mason's own walking setup.  

So far, about 200 people have stopped to watch the exhibition. 

The Terrell display area is located at SE 125 th Terrace near the intersection of Chuanqu Road, which can be walked through at any time. Both families stated that they plan to expand their Christmas display in the next few years like Mason. 

"You can't sell what other people like," Belinda Chapman said.

The Gainesville Junior League will transform the Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville into a store on Saturday, where everything is free for the annual Main Street Miracle event.