REGINA — For nearly a decade now, the Allen family lights have brightened up the Lakeridge neighbourhood in Regina.
The house features 70,000 light bulbs, which change colour and patterns with the music playing on a local FM station.
The idea for the show came from Trevor Allen’s passion for Christmas, music and lights.
“I love music, and I love lights. Starting my DJ company was really just about bringing those two things together. I also love Christmas. And I love watching Clark Griswold in his movie, the way he lights up his lights.”
Griswold starred in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, playing the role of Chevy, who attempted to create the perfect family Christmas.
“So I just thought to take my two passions and actually put together a light show. A little bit different from how he did it.”
In 2014, Allen started using RGB LED strip lights in his kitchen. This led Allen to discover more information about pixel lights and create his own pixel snowflake years later.
“They worked better than I thought. And from that, I was hooked. So then I put in a huge order for all these lights and started building all these props,” said Allen.
That year, Allen said he had purchased 32,000 lights.
“I went big right off … the very start for my first light show (in 2018). And I remember all the comments I got from people who do this from all over the world, they couldn't believe this was my first year."
Since starting his light show, Allen said people have started traditions by coming out yearly.
“The stories that have really touched me are that I've had people come out and tell me that they used to bring their parents by the lights, and their parents are no longer with them anymore. So they use the lights as kind of a memory for them when they used to come out and watch them with their parents.”
Each year, Allen estimates thousands of people come by to check out his lights.
Allen’s passion for Christmas and lights has also been passed down to his daughter.
“This is the first year where she's actually starting to sequence her own light shows. So she started to build her own.
“She's probably going to take over the lights from me once I'm no longer able to do it or just don't have the time,” he added.
Allen admitted he questions why each year he spends hundreds of hours putting lights on his home. But he has an answer.
“When this show goes live, and I see the people out there, and I see the people's faces and everyone cheering and people dancing to the songs, that just brings it all back again.”
The house is located at 5140 Genereux Drive.
