‘Light Up Billings’ Winner Has More Than 100,000 Lights
The streets and neighborhoods in Billings are shining bright, thanks to all our entries for "Light Up Billings," powered by High Caliber Plumbing and Heating.
A lot of photos showing your holiday light displays were submitted from all around Yellowstone County, with our grand prize winner picking up $150 from High Horse Saloon, and a new Traeger Tailgater Grill, valued at nearly $500.
Our winner this year is 'Billings North Pole' created by Chris Troup, and located at 4516 Stone Street. This is the 13th year for his holiday light display, that includes more than 100,000 lights.
Chris said he started with 10,000 lights his first year, and just kept adding on something new every Christmas season. He starts putting up the display in September, then Chris said he takes the entire month of November off of work to complete the construction of 'Billings North Pole.'
What Chris called "phase 3" of the castle portion was completed this year, and it will all come together next year when "phase 4" is turned on.
The display will be up through January 1st, and then Chris said it takes until April to get everything taken down, and put away in the storage unit that's dedicated to decoration and lights.
When Chris was asked about how much his electric bill is after he turns on his Christmas display, he didn't give an actual number, but said it was about the same as buying several Traeger grills.
When asked why he does it, Chris said "It's all for the kids." Besides building his holiday light display, Chris spends the rest of his time around the holidays helping local charities.
Chris also added that his neighbors have really been supportive this year, with one neighbor putting up a "Ditto" sign, with an arrow pointing to his massive light display.