Home Care In Hatfield, PA

For a full year, they had to keep the secret.

Now the Michael family of Hatfield can share the dazzling good news: Their home's holiday decorations won the top prize of $50,000 and a lightbulb trophy in Wednesday night's episode of the popular seasonal ABC show, "The Great Christmas Light Fight."

The show was taped last Christmas season to air for seven weeks during this year's holidays. Four families are chosen to compete in each episode and the Michaels's display was selected to compete against other awesome displays from families in Indiana, Massachusetts and Virginia.

Brian Michael said his family appreciated the prize money, but the coveted trophy is what those who put on light shows of this caliber are most interested in winning.

"He puts his heard and soul into it and I'm so happy he's getting rewarded for it," his wife, Kim, said as the family accepted the trophy from show host Tanlya Nayak.

So many people come to see the house at 102 Kimberly Way that the Colmar Fire Co. has volunteered to direct traffic onto and around the cul-de-sac where in sits on an acre in Towamencin Township, with a Hatfield mailing address.

Nayak said the Michael display, which included 85,000 lights, an interactive Santa workshop and a vintage collection of 1,800 blow-molds of carolers, a Nativity scene and even a train set, really stands out both on the ground and from the air.

More:Share the best holiday light displays in Bucks County with us

And yes, the Michaels have watched Clark Griswold light up the house decorations on National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation" a "million times."

But the real reason behind the light show goes back to Brian's childhood.

He lived in an apartment complex in Bensalem which had a holiday decoration contest. He was only 6 years old but convinced his mom to let him enter it, and their window display won. He's been into Christmas decorations ever since.

He and Kim were married a year when they started their decoration collection in 1998. Now he works on it throughout the year.

Kim was diagnosed with ataxia, a degenerative muscular disease several years ago and now lets Brian do most of the work as she watches from her wheelchair or walker. Their two children, Joe, 23, who recently graduated from college, and Elyse, 20, a college student, help out when they can.

Brian includes information on the Ataxia Foundation in the display but doesn't actively solicit donations for research into the progressive disease that has no cure. "It's more for general awareness," he said. "It's very similar to ALS."

Preparing the Christmas displays has become a year-round hobby for him when he's not working in business development and sales. In September, when he really gets busy with it, Kim becomes "a Christmas widow," he said.

Next year, however, they may take a break after winning the top prize. They hope to do it but he wants to focus on what his wife would like, "what she wants me to do.

"The community would understand," he said.

Two of three giant stacks that marked Hatfield’s Ferry Power Station slumped to the ground in boiling clouds of dust Saturday after being detonated with explosives, the first step in redeveloping the 236-acre site in Greene County.

A third stack at the long closed plant along the Monongahela River remained standing for another 20 minutes before also crumbling into rubble. The three stacks were expected to collapse almost simultaneously with explosions that thundered through the valleys, but the reason for the delay was unknown.

Demolition of a boiler house and two huge concrete cooling towers is scheduled for later this year, FirstEnergy Inc. spokesman Todd Meyers said. Cleanup of the site will continue through 2024, when the land will be sold for redevelopment, utility spokeswoman Lauren Siburkis said.

In recent years, the Akron, Ohio-based utility has curtailed its capacity to generate electricity, relying instead on power from sources in 13 states to improve energy reliability, Ms. Siburkis said.

People in pickup trucks pulled off the highway near the plant Saturday to witness a piece of industrial history. Dozens of people on all-terrain vehicles jockeyed for the best places to watch the demolition along a power line path nearby.

Across the Mon, Marcia Piper, who’d watched the hulking power station being built in the late 1960s as a child, was glad to see it go. She recalled the years when “it rained mud,” smearing car windows and outdoor furniture with soot from the stacks.

“I’m ecstatic,” the 67-year-old Ms. Piper said. “It was the dirtiest, dirtiest place ever.”

Hatfield’s Ferry opened in 1969. At its peak, the coal-fired plant made enough electricity to power air conditioners and Cuisinarts hum in more than 1 million homes. On Saturday, two 700-foot stacks and a 540-foot emissions-scrubbing tower, added in 2009 at an estimated cost of $600 million to try to clean up the plant, crumbled to the ground.

FirstEnergy picked up Hatfield’s Ferry and the much smaller Mitchell Power Station in Washington County in 2011. Like Hatfield’s, Mitchell burned coal to generate electricity — both plants were shuttered in 2013 because of new government restrictions on stack emissions and declining demand for electricity, the company said then.

The shift to lower cost natural gas as a power-generating fuel also was a factor in the decline of coal-fired generation; today natural gas generates 38% of U.S. electricity compared to 22% for coal, down from more than 50% at one time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The demise of Hatfield’s Ferry has become a common story.

The Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale, which closed last year, is being redeveloped by Kentucky-based Charah Solutions Inc., which was interested in the property for its coal ash. And the shuttered Elrama Power Plant in Washington County, closed since 2012, saw some delayed interest when it was bought by Trogon Development, a subsidiary of Missouri-based Commercial Liability Partners in March 2021.

Demolition of Hatfield’s Ferry closes a long chapter in industrial history in Pennsylvania, where coal powered the U.S. through world wars. But burning coal brought air pollution, and Hatfield’s Ferry was among the biggest power plant sources of sulfur dioxide, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation said in 2005.

“It was disgusting,” Ms. Piper said. “It was just a black, dirty mess. It put a blight on our community.”

Ms. Piper and husband Frank, 67, a retired long-haul trucker, have lived in the shadow of Hatfield’s Ferry since 1981, a coal patch then called Mount Sterling, where Ms. Piper grew up and learned to swim in the river.

“Everybody around here had a mine,” she said. “It was a community. Now, it’s all gone. Everybody left.”

Some of Mt. Sterling’s mines were flooded by the muddy Mon when it overflowed its banks. Others simply played out, many years before Ms. Piper was born, she said.

But the decline of the coal patch didn’t happen before some people tried fighting back.

Residents of Masontown, several miles from the Pipers’ single-story home, filed a lawsuit against FirstEnergy, claiming that decades of soot, arsenic-laced fly ash and odors had damaged their properties. The lawsuit sought class action status and compensation for about 1,000 families.

But the plant closed as planned in October 2013, three months after the lawsuit was filed.

Not everyone was happy to see the plant die.

“I wish it was still burning,” said a bearded, middle-age man, standing with a few dozen neighbors along Live Easy Road, a dead-end street overlooking the plant. He declined to give his name.

“There were 300 union jobs there,” he said, sipping a can of beer. “How many mouths did that feed?”

Kris B. Mamula: [email protected] and Anya Litvak: [email protected]

First Published March 5, 2023, 3:00am

In a dazzling display of festive spirit that would make Clark Griswold envious, the Michael Family have outshone their neighbors — quite literally — this holiday season.

Their elaborate Christmas light extravaganza along the 100 block of Kimberly Way not only brightened the neighborhood, but also secured them the prestigious "Christmas Light Fight” trophy and a staggering $50,000 prize on Tuesday night’s "The Christmas Light Fight” on ABC. The Michael Family competed against three other families from across the United States in the Season 11 episode.

Unlike the infamous leg lamp that Ralphie’s dad proudly displayed in their window, this major award for the Michael Family is a beacon of community joy. Sometimes, more is indeed merrier.

The Michael’s — Brian, Kim, and their children, Elyse and Joseph — told host Taniya Nayak that they have been doing the Christmas display for 25 years. When Nayak turned a custom-made personalized key to power the Michael lights, she was blown away.

"It’s not just covered in lights,” Nayak said during the broadcast, "it’s covered in blow molds! This is just amazing. It looks like a million of them.”

"Almost a million,” replied Brian Michael. "We’re trying to get there.”

Nayak marveled at the displays’ multiple choirs and the trees wrapped in lights. She said the first thing that drew her eye was a special choir display.

"They are so bright and beautiful. They are so vintage and there are so many of them,” she said.

"There are almost 30 here,” Brian replied. "It took several years to collect these; they are really hard to find. They do have their own life cycle. Trying to find them again is harder and harder.”

Brian showed Nayak how the choir display, comprised of different boys and girls with different colored hair among them, lets one take off the heads of the choir singers and move them around.

"Imagine what it’s like when I set it up. It’s a little creepy,” Brian joked.

Nayak told the Michael family she loved the vintage-ness of everything.

"It reminds me of old-school Christmas,” she said.

She also marveled at the Michael’s roof, which is also decorated with displays that were hand-made by Brian. Nayak found it to be a great use of space.

"We deviate a bit,” Brian said, "and pull in wire frame structures.”

The large wreath display on the roof was made by Brian out of PVC pipe and measures 14 feet tall, he said. The bow itself is six feet tall.

"We have over 150 strobe lights giving it pop and sparkle. It gives you that magic in the display,” he said.

The Michael display does not stop at blow molds: There are animatronics and displays triggered by motion sensors too. One such sensor activates a Christmas Mickey Mouse in a window.

"It’s one of the cool things to complement the blow mold display,” Brian said. "It makes the kids feel so special.”

Brian even created a huge, enclosed light up display featuring Santa and Mrs. Claus in his workshop. The interactive display mimics a child talking to Santa.

"It’s nice to have this set up and it’s low for kids to press the button,” Nayak said. "If I were a kid, I’d be standing here all day.”

Of course, a Christmas light display would not be complete without a train around a Christmas tree. The Michaels have one — a blow mold version, obviously.

"We are a preserver of Christmas lights and Christmas past,” Brian said. "We have to do that so we have future generations that can do the same thing.”

Kim Michael told Nayak that Brian’s display brings him so much joy in seeing other people happy.

"He brings delight in everybody’s eyes,” she said.

Nayak agreed and was amazed that she felt what the Michael family and their fans feel every year.

"You guys inspire me,” Brian told his family.

Upon awarding the Michael Family their honors, Nayak said they were making history.

"It felt like I was walking through a museum of blow molds,” she said, adding it was one of the finest collections she had ever seen.

"I would have never expected this,” said Brian. "I just do it to make people happy.”

"He put his heart and soul into it, and I’m so happy he’s getting rewarded for it,” said Kim.

Brian had the perfect spot for his award — right on the mantel of the fake interactive fireplace he made, complete with a Santa stuck in the chimney.

"Just like the blow molds we preserved, we preserve Christmas memories,” he said.

(Editor’s note: The Michael Family Christmas Display is located in Towamencin Township, however they have a Hatfield mailing address and all promotional and distribution materials cite the location as Hatfield. In an effort to avoid confusion, we have made the decision to use the Hatfield address in our coverage.)

See also:

Michael Family Releases Second Promo Video Ahead of Tuesday’s ‘The Great Christmas Light Fight’ Episode

Photos: The Best Residential Christmas Displays Across the North Penn and Indian Valley Area

The Michael Family: Bringing Christmas Smiles, Cheer, and Awareness to a TV Screen Near You

Promo Video Released Ahead of Hatfield Family’s Appearance on ‘The Great Christmas Light Fight’ Show

ABC Announces Air Date for ‘The Great Christmas Light Fight’ Episode Featuring Hatfield Family

CARMICHAELS, Pa. (KDKA) -- The boiler house at the old Hatfield's Ferry Power Station in Greene County was imploded Friday morning.

The boiler house contained the power-generating turbines and is the last remaining major structure on the site along the Monongahela River in Carmichaels. FirstEnergy said the building is a shell, with much of the generation equipment already removed and scrapped.

The implosion was scheduled for 11 a.m. on Friday. In just a few seconds, the boiler house was reduced to a pile of rubble.

"All the scrap will be separated and then trucked off of site. We'll probably be working on this through June of next year to get this site sort of back to a site that is going to be grassy, it's going to be waiting for some good economic productive use. We don't know what that is yet, but the site will be for sale," said West Penn Power spokesperson Todd Meyers.

In March, three emission stacks came down, and two cooling towers were imploded in June.

The implosions are part of a plan to clear out the 236-acre site for future development, though so far there's been no indication as to how the property will be used. FirstEnergy said the site will keep a high-voltage electrical substation that interconnects to the regional transmission network and a water intake structure on the river.

FirstEnergy said the old coal-fired power plant closed in 2013 because of the estimated cost to comply with new and proposed federal environmental regulations on top of low market prices for electricity. About 190 people worked at the time it closed.

Madeline Bartos

Madeline is a digital web producer for KDKA. She has worked for the station since 2019.

Health officials are reaching out to residents after an unvaccinated child in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, tested positive for measles.

Léelo en español aquí.

Investigators with the Montgomery County Office of Public Health are currently completing contact tracing with the locations the child visited as well as the child’s guardian. They are also notifying anyone who may have been in contact with the child and potentially exposed.

Pennsylvania locations the child visited

Officials said the child visited the following locations during their infectious period and people who were at those locations during the specific time periods may have been exposed to the measles virus:

July 20, 2023 from 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Bryn Mawr Hospital Emergency Room

Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.

130 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

July 20, 2023 from 5:15 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Costco Wholesale

740 Upper State Road, North Wales, PA 19454

July 21, 2023 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Emergency Department

3401 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104

July 22, 2023 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Walmart Supercenter

1515 Bethlehem Pike, Hatfield, PA 19440

July 23, 2023 from 9:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Middleman Family Pavilion Emergency Department

550 S. Goddard Blvd., King of Prussia, PA 19406

How long is the measles virus infectious?

The measles virus can remain infectious in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area.

What should you do if you believe you were exposed to the measles virus?

Here are tips from the Montgomery County Office of Public Health:

Can vaccinated people test positive for measles?

For those who are properly immunized against measles, the risk of getting the disease is minimal, health officials say.

How contagious is measles?

Measles is an extremely contagious virus that lives in the mucus membranes of the nose and throat of infected people. The virus can be transmitted from person to person through coughing and sneezing.

How can you become infected by measles?

A healthy person can become infected with measles if they breathe the contaminated air or touch an infected surface then touch their eyes, nose or mouth.

When an infected person sneezes or coughs, droplets spray into the air. Those droplets can contain an active and contagious virus that will last in the air and on surfaces for up to two hours.

What are the symptoms of measles?

Who is most at risk of testing positive for measles?

Who is considered immune to measles?

What should you do if you think you have measles?

If you believe you have been exposed to measles or are showing symptoms, contact your healthcare provider. Healthcare providers should report any suspected cases of measles to MCOPH at 610-278-5117 or after hours at 610-635-4300.

Where can I get vaccinated against the measles?

You can receive the MMR vaccine at your local healthcare provider or pharmacy. Call the Montgomery County Office of Public Health at 610-278-5117 for testing recommendations, advice or any questions related to the virus.