By Jennifer Theurer

The City of Belleville recently announced that Mike and Melissa Hedges and Mike Nondorf were the winners of the Outdoor Christmas Decorating Contest sponsored by Rocky Pond Christmas and Central Plains Respiratory and Medical. The Hedges celebrated their first Christmas living in Belleville with an eye-catching display and Nondorf decorated in memory of his wife and daughter who have passed.

“Actually, this year, we had way more displays and lighted houses that weren’t even on the contest,” Deanna Morris, owner of Central Plains Respiratory and Medical, said. “Sometimes I feel like people kind of look down on small towns but, hey, we’ve got a lot going on!”

A big part of the goings on in Belleville is the Rocky Pond Christmas light display. According to Morris’s sources, some 11,000 visitors from north central Kansas and southern Nebraska enjoyed the Christmas light displays planned, built, and set up by a group of 8 volunteers.

“They’re the real heroes,” Morris said. “They start in October putting those displays up and it takes a ton of time.”

Morris said a display for the decorating contest doesn’t always have to take a lot of time to set up.

“We have some folks that actually have blow up displays,” she said. “We previously had people that put music to lights. That’s what’s so fun about it, seeing what everybody else does.”