Siouxland to be without Christmas Acres for first time in decades

LE MARS, Iowa (KCAU) — For 28 years, Rob Scheitler and his family have opened their doors to visitors wishing to see thousands of Christmas decorations. But this year, Christmas Acres won’t be putting on a show .

“It was kind of shocking,” Hawarden resident Amy Butler said. “I mean, I guess it’s one of those things where you just don’t think that it will come to an end.”

On Saturday, the Scheitlers announced the decision on Facebook . Rob says he’s been dealing with back problems for the past two years that have finally caught up.

“So last Saturday, my wife was out helping me and I was in one of the sheds, and then my mom stopped up and we were going to start taking stuff out of a shed,” Rob Scheitler said. “And I looked around and I thought, why are we doing this? Knowing that there’s absolutely no way that I could even keep continuing this year.”

This week, Rob found out he had a condition called spinal subluxation.

“All the disks in my back pretty much have moved out of alignment or are locking up,” he said. “And that is what’s causing all of my headaches, my back problems, my legs are giving out, and I got numbness and tingling in my hands.”

With this condition, Rob can only stand for short periods at a time, which doesn’t allow him to set up more than a thousand decorations.

“It takes us all the way up to opening day, and I’m still working at this,” he said. “Then once you get the display up, it’s all the nights and all the hours of wiring, testing, all everything to make sure it works. We go nowhere for six weeks because that is our life for six weeks, and then you deal with all the problems. Squirrels and rabbits love electrical.”

While many in the community understand their decision, people are still sad to see a year without Christmas Acres.

“We always made it a point to swing by and check out all the decorations and lights,” Butler said. “Certainly every year, if not once or twice a year for sure. We’ll have to find some other things to do, which Le Mars does really well with that, and there are other opportunities.”

Since the announcement, Rob has received several offers from the community to help set up. Rob says he appreciates the community’s support, but he just wants to take the time to get better.

“It’s been amazing, the people who have reached out to us,” he said. “But please understand, it’s come down to the decision. I need family time. I need to rest. I need to relax. I don’t want to worry about anything going on out there. We need to have a serious discussion, you know, after almost 50 years, is it time? Is it time to move on and start enjoying life?”

Rob says it’ll be nice for the first time in many years to be able to relax for the holidays.

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