SOAP LAKE - Soap Lake residents could always count on Vern Hinkel's annual Christmas light display during the holiday season.

For more than 12 years, Hinkel set up multi-colored candy canes, Christmas trees and other winter scenes that could even be seen by travelers along the Coulee Corridor Scenic Byway. However, his home won't be lit up this season.

Hinkel died on Aug. 10. He was 75.

His display will definitely be missed by many Soap Lake residents, said Stella Easton, who met Hinkel in 1987. The two married, and moved to Soap Lake in 1990.

Hinkel grew produce in a garden at their home each year, said Easton, and would set up Christmas lights in it after harvest.

"It was really a labor of love," said Easton. "He would start as early as October sometimes."

Easton said Hinkel would brave the cold weather in order to set up his display each year, which sometimes involved stringing lights on poles as high up as 20 feet.

She said his elaborate displays used about 100,000 individual lights.

One year, said Easton, a wind storm came through Soap Lake and brought down most of Hinkel's lights that he had just spent days putting up.

"But the next day, there he was putting it all back up," said Easton.

His dedication paid off however, as people from Soap Lake would line the block each year to see Hinkel turn on his annual display.

"Everyone loved it, he got so many comments," said Easton. "I would feel like I was in a fairyland every time he turned the lights on."

Hinkel even won the Soap Lake Garden Club's Yard of the Month for his Christmas decorations last December, said Easton.

"People have even come from Oregon just to see his display," she said.

Carrie Farrell, of the Sundial Bistro in Soap Lake, said that the town wanted to do something to honor Hinkel since his home will not be lit this Christmas. Farrell said the Soap Lake Association of Business and the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce will host a Christmas lighting and decorating contest, in order to find the best decorated home in Soap Lake.

Farrell said the two groups will offer hay rides around Soap Lake on Dec. 14, to visit homes that are decorated with Christmas lights. After the hay rides, participants can vote for the best decorated house.

There will also be a map with all the homes on it, so people can drive around and look at the lights on their own as well, she said.

The winner of the contest will be announced on Dec. 15 during the town's annual Winterfest celebration.

Farrell said the goal is to make the light display contest an annual event, in order to honor the dedication Hinkel put into his Christmas lights year after year.

"It was such a big deal, what he did," she said. "His home won't be lit up this year, so let's light up the town for him and in honor of him."

Farrell said she also hopes homeowners in Soap Lake will continue to put up Christmas lights and decorations each year, just as Hinkel would.

"People would come from as far as Oregon to see one house, so let's have people come from all over to see the town of Soap Lake lit up for Christmas," she said.

If people knew that homes in Soap Lake always put up Christmas light displays, more people would come to spend time in Soap Lake each holiday season, said Farrell. This would greatly benefit the town's economy, she said.

"I just hope everyone puts up at least one tree or one string of lights for Vern, because it's going to be missed this year," said Farrell.

Soap Lake homeowners who wish to be included in the contest and on the map of Christmas lights can e-mail their information to slabinsoaplake@gmail.com.