One of Baker City’s beloved Christmas traditions — a giant, lighted cross — was sprawled across a good portion of Mike Voboril’s shop on the second morning of December.

The sunshine was bright, the sky unblemished.

But it’s what would happen several hours later, when the sun descended behind the sagebrush-studded ridge that rises above, and the chilly dusk fell, that Voboril was thinking about.

It’s why he felt a bit of pressure to finish the task he’d set for himself.

It’s a job that involved more than 40 feet of aluminum and galvanized steel pipe.

More than 250 feet of plastic tubing studded with bright white lights.

Dozens of pieces of copper wire.

When Voboril twisted the last wire on Dec. 4, snugging the final section of lights in place, he got in his forklift and haul the cross to its perch a couple hundred feet above his home.

Soon after, the cross brightened the winter sky, a beacon visible across Baker City and beyond.

Voboril, who has lived in Baker City since 1984 and on his property above the drinking-water reservoir at the southwest corner of the city since 1989, assembled the cross many years ago.

Each year during the Christmas season, and again for Easter, he switches on the lights.

In 2020 the cross was lighted much of the year.

His original inspiration, and what continues to motivate him, is simple.

“I thought it would be nice to have something that gave us a little bit of peace,” Voboril said.

This year he turned on the lights a couple days before Thanksgiving.

But there was a problem.

Only one strand of lights was illuminated.

Voboril quickly diagnosed the issue — and it wasn’t a new one.

Although the lights are encased in flexible plastic tubing that’s supposed to defy the weather, the material isn’t as durable as Voboril would prefer.

“Water gets in, and that causes problems,” he said.

He pointed to a section of tubing that is scorched black rather than translucent.

Moisture, of course, does not mix well with electricity.

(A subject on which Voboril is an expert — he has installed and repaired electric pumps for wells, irrigation systems and other purposes for more than four decades. He sold the pump part of his business, MMW, about a year ago, but continues to repair motors.)

Voboril said the water that seeped into the tubing caused an electrical short that in one place actually blew apart a section of lights.

The damage required replacement rather than repair, so Voboril took down the cross and hauled it to his shop.

The first spool of new lights arrived on Nov. 30.

The following Monday morning the dismantled cross was in Voboril’s immaculate shop.

Turning a tower into a cross

The aluminum tower, about 35 feet tall, that forms the upright part of the cross was installed for an antenna for wireless internet, Voboril said.

When the company that owned the tower told Voboril they intended to remove it — it stood on his property — he asked if they could leave it.

He said he had been thinking about building a lighted cross, knowing that from its lofty vantage point it would be visible to almost all parts of Baker City.

Voboril said he had to sign a liability release, but the tower remained.

He built the crosspiece from sections of electrical metal tubing, which is made of galvanized steel and is used to protect electric wires.

Given his longtime business, Voboril had plenty of the material in his shop.

At first he attached the tube lights with electrical tape.

But he later replaced the tape with copper wire, which is more stable and also makes it easier to maintain equal spacing between the rows of lights.

Voboril said he would prefer not to have any publicity about his cross.

But he understands that Baker City residents anticipate its return each year.

When his wife, Andie, posted on Facebook on Nov. 26 that the cross was down but would be back once her husband installed new lights, there were more than 200 reactions to the post in less than a day.

Voboril has quite a different perspective of the cross than people down in the city, of course.

But he said he enjoys the view when he’s in town.

More important, though, he’s gratified that the cross pleases people.

“It makes me happy that it makes somebody else happy,” he said. “It gives me a nice, warm feeling.”

Jayson Jacoby is the editor of the Baker City Herald.