ENGLEWOOD — Taking down festive holiday ornaments, so full of sparkle and promise when they go up after Thanksgiving, can be a letdown. But this year, nobody will feel that more keenly than Richard and Alice Kloewer.

When the Kloewers begin to dismantle their yard display next week, it means the end of a 29-year tradition that put their little house on the international map. The “Today Show” featured their yard in 2002. HGTV’s “Crazy For Christmas” showed the Kloewers’ place in 2003 and 2004.

From Thanksgiving to Three Kings Day in January, cars, vans and tour buses lined the streets leading to the Kloewer (KLAY-ver) home at 4990 S. Elati St. Usually, people disembarked to walk among the displays and listen to the carols broadcast from a six-CD player. On bitter nights, the corner of S. Elati and Grand streets looked like a parking lot.

“Sometimes, it backed up clear to the Kmart on Broadway,” Alice Kloewer said.

“People from all over knew about us.”

One December, a visitor from Egypt — “maybe it was Turkey,” her husband said — arrived at Denver International Airport and instructed his cab driver to take him directly to the Kloewer’s home.

It was late, and the lights were off. The cab driver knocked on the door and told the sleepy residents about the impatient international visitor in his car. The Kloewers, who are nothing if not obliging, turned on the lights and gave him a tour.

If that visitor from Egypt (or Turkey) were to show up today, he would have a chance to bid on his favorite parts of the Kloewer’s staggering display. And if he didn’t get his first choice, let’s just say there’s no shortage of other options, including:

• A full, nearly life-sized Nativity set;

• The Elvis House, a nod to Richard Kloewer’s Army days in Fort Smith, Ark., where he was stationed with the King of Rock & Roll;

• The Snow Baby display, a souvenir from Dollywood, one of the Kloewer’s favorite vacation destinations;

• The Ferris wheel that’s one of 29 pieces powered by a repurposed bicycle chain attached to an engine from a rotisserie oven;

• The Mousketeer Train, which dates back to 1983, a year after the Kloewers launched their holiday tradition, and is powered by a repurposed 50-foot garage door chain;

• The Charlie Brown display, a souvenir of a shopping spree at the Mall Of America;

• The Christmas Kitchen, a nod to the Kloewer ancestors whose approach to Christmas baking predicted their descendants’ enthusiasm for decorating;

And much, much, much more. The little white houses that Richard Kloewer custom-built for every tableaux. The dolls and toys inside those houses. The globes that Kloewer and his sons welded to suspend from trees that a 20-foot ladder could access in the 1980s, but require a cherry-picker today.

Not for sale: The Kloewers’ prized model train set — nine trains run on 1,200 feet of track.

“The trains all stay,” Richard Kloewer said firmly.

“And anything related to the trains, we’re keeping. Also, the circus and the farm sets. They’re made to scale for a G-scale railroad.”

Everything, apart from the train-related things and the dedicated circuit breaker with 28 20-amp circuits to power the Christmas exhibit, must go.

Each display item has its own numbered tag, and on the Kloewer porch, there are index cards for prospective bidders — like eBay, but on paper. (The Kloewers are old-school.)

“It’s going to be hard to take it down this year, but we’ve come to the point where I know I can’t handle it any more,” Richard Kloewer said.

“When the kids were around, they’d help. But now it’s a question of hiring people to do it, and hired help doesn’t do it like we do.”

“This way, they go out on top,” daughter Mary Kloewer Vielhauer added. She decorates for the holidays, too, although she draws the line at one Christmas tree and two wreaths.

Leaf-peeping and Dollywood

By the end of January, the Kloewers hope, everything (except for the trains) will be gone. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the four sheds where Richard Kloewer stored the display will be empty.

And when October rolls around next year, the Kloewers won’t be laying out yards and yards of electrical wiring to prepare for their megawatt tribute to Christmas. They’ll finally have a chance to see the fall foliage in New England, and visit Dollywood again.

“It’s going to be emotional, taking everything down,” Vielhauer said.

“But it’s going to be a relief, too. You lose a lot of grass, with people walking all over the yard in December. It’s a nice feeling to get back to normalcy.”

And waiting in the wings, ready to carry the torch, is Nicolas Martinez , age 8, of Louisville.

With help from his dad, Joe Martinez, and inspiration from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” he turned the Martinez home into a light display that won the novice division in the 2011 Greeley Lights The Night competition.

“Oh, my little guy’s ready to take on Clark Griswold ,” Joe Martinez said.

“Tell him to come on over,” Alice Kloewer said.

“We’re taking bids.”

Claire Martin: 303-954-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com

