RF sixth-grader wins People’s Choice Award

The Christmas season snuck up on me this year like the yellow-eyed bully Scut Farkus in a back alley near Cleveland Street. Maybe it was my George Bailey-like checking account, maybe it was not being able to see my parents and brothers this season, but I think the Ebenezer exclamation point came when I was trying to put up Christmas lights and 95% of them didn’t work. The lights had burned out and, seemingly, so had my Christmas spirit. I quit on Christmas this year, that is, until I met Mason Singel on Dec. 23. Picture the look on Clark W. Griswold’s face when he slams the extension cords together. The exterior illumination of 25,000 lights burst into the atmosphere and Todd and Margo Chesters’ living room. My Christmas spirit came shining through and it was an unknowing gift from Mason, a sixth-grade Meyer Middle School student in River Falls.

They say it’s better to give than receive this time of year and Mason had two lumps of coal in his proverbial Christmas stocking in November.

Mason had a ruptured appendix and was in the hospital for nine days due to problems with the antibiotics. He came home on Nov. 28 and his 3-year-old Burmese Mountain dog, Rocky, was put to sleep two days later after a very aggressive bout with cancer that only lasted a few weeks.

“I like to think Rocky waited for us to get home from the hospital before he died,” said Mason’s mom, Erin Fenton.

Fresh off his hospital stay and saying goodbye to Rocky, Mason had a Christmas job to do and he only had a couple days to finish it.

Mason is the two-time defending champion of the “People’s Choice Award” for the River Falls Chamber of Commerce “Light Up The Kinni” competition.

The competition is sponsored by River Falls Municipal Utilities and residents had to give their best Clark W. Griswold exterior illumination impression, make a video, and submit it to the Chamber by Dec. 1. The Christmas lights video with the most “likes” on the Chamber Facebook page wins the “People’s Choice Award.”

A major award was once supplanted on Cleveland Street in the early 1940’s boxed with the word “fra-gi-le.” Singel’s major award this year on Devin Street was his third straight. The Chamber started the “Light Up The Kinni People’s Choice Award” three years ago and 11-year-old Mason has won it each year.

“The whole set-up is his creation and he does the bulk of it,” said Fenton. “I said you’re like the next Clark Griswold.”

“I like getting all the cords out,” said Mason. “I do it area by area. You have to get them organized before you start doing it and have a plan.”

Mason made a couple small tweaks from last year. He subtracted two blow-up decorations and added more lights. His favorite addition this year, one that may have catapulted him to victory, was the three-tiered light rings on his trampoline.

“It was very cold,” said Mason. “I couldn’t put in any projectors because the ground was frozen.”

Even with three wins in a row, it’s not all fun and games for River Falls’ youngest exterior illumination king.

“The tangles and when strands go out, that’s frustrating,” said Mason.

“You serious, Clark?” said Cousin Eddie.

One strand at a time. One area at a time. That’s the secret decoder pen message from Singel to “Light Up The Kinni” contestants.

“Next year, I hope to have a radio station to have the lights flash to music,” he said.

“He’s (Mason) always been into technology,” said Fenton. “He just pushes buttons and everything turns on.”

Christmas on Devin Street in Mason’s house this year did a “180” from the hospital and his dog, Rocky, passing away.

Mason and his sister, Avery, had a new addition to the family, an 8-week-old Burmese Mountain puppy named Max. Max is a relative of Rocky and just so happened he was the last of a litter and no one had taken him yet.

In “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie Parker’s eye (the one he would shoot out) was on the “Official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.”

“This thing that tells time” is where I misplaced my Christmas spirit. That’s what Mason helped me find. I didn’t find it talking with him on the phone. I saw it in his eyes when I took his picture in front of the “Light Up The Kinni” sign.

“This thing that tells time” symbolizes youthful naivete and child-like trust and hope. I saw Christmas through the eyes of Mason Singel for a brief moment. It was “the thing” telling me it was time to push the button back on for Christmas spirit, to have hope and passion again. I sincerely appreciate the gift from you, Mason. I will never forget it.

By the way, leading Mason’s Christmas wish list this year was the Segway Ninebot KickScooter ES4. It has been confirmed Mason is riding it up and down Devin Street as you read this.

Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.