Grand finale: The Billings North Pole is lighting up the south

Chris Troup's home at 4516 Stone Street is on the list of must-see light displays in Billings.

Chris Troup's front door doesn't open all the way.

The mechanism is fine. It's just that the doorway is blocked by a five and a half foot tall animatronic Santa Claus. As long as Saint Nick takes over the front porch, the Troup family have to sort of fold themselves sideways into their house.

It's one of the many sacrifices the Troups make during the holiday season. They own the house at 4516 Stone St. But in December it's better known as the Billings North Pole.

For the last 15 years, the Troups — Chris, his wife Kristie and son Ahrian — have turned their South Side home into a veritable winter wonderland. They've become a phenomena, drawing untold thousands of people. Stone Street becomes a zoo in the holidays, everyone craning to get a peak. The snow along the street and in the Troup's yard is ground down into compact ice by an uncountable amount of feet and tires. Chris is basically doing crowd control. He sets up orange traffic cones around his neighbors driveways to keep gawkers from boxing them in.

Signs remind visitors not to block driveways at Chris Trou's popular Christmas display at 4516 Stone Street.

Not that he minds. This whole thing is his baby, and he's turned it from a humble display into something that people are willing to travel from states away to see. And this year is the end. When Troup shuts off the lights on Jan. 1, he and his family will take some well earned time off.

The Billings North Pole is a thing to behold. There are well over 200,000 lights. They run in strips all over the house and into the yard. Some lights spiral up into Christmas trees, others arch over the driveway and through the walking paths bisecting the yard.

Chris Troup is shown at his popular Christmas display at 4516 Stone Street.

Troup's yard is a maze of decorations. Antique dolls sit in little houses, each hand built by Troup. Some of them have windshield wiper motors to make them move.

The house itself looks closer to a castle than it does a domestic dwelling. There are parapets up along each corner of the roof, each with a Santa Claus standing guard. To get into the driveway, you pass by two big sculptures of King Moonracer, the crowned, imperial lion who rules the Island of Misfit Toys in the Rankin/Bass "Rudolph" special.

There's an army of wood cutouts all over. The Marvel superheroes are represented. So are Mario and the Nintendo gang. The Sesame Street Muppets cordon off one side of the driveway, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have set up house in the back, in front of the garage.

The thing Troup might have the most of in his yard is blow molds, those antique hollow plastic yard decorations that harken back to older, kitschier Christmases. Back before those light up reindeer and way before our current infatuation with giant inflatable decorations, blow molds were the thing, the best way to show your neighbors how much Christmas spirit you had. Troup's got hundreds of them in the yard. They form a plastic choir in one end, and on another, a battalion of light up soldiers thank Billings' first responders.

Chris Troup has built a popular Christmas display at 4516 Stone Street.

"Those are definitely my passion," Troup said. He's got so many that the ones on display are only a portion of his collection. He scours antique stores and estate sales. He also finds them online.

That online shopping comes second nature to Troup. E-commerce — selling things on eBay — is his full time job. It lends him a flexibility that's vital to the North Pole. Because from September to February, Christmas is his full time job.

"I'm big into Christmas," Troup said. "I'm into the giving, and the magic and the wonder that it brings. As soon as the weather changes, I get so excited. No matter how the year's going or what's going on. My mindset changes. Christmas is coming."

He's always been like that. When he was a kid, Troup's father would handle putting the lights on their house. But Troup's room was decorated similarly to how his yard is now, with more stuff that it seems possible to get into such a small space.

For years, Troup's Christmas displays lived inside, like those first ones. He first took it outside in Christmas 2006. The family were living in the Hunter's Pointe apartments at the time, and, when the complex announced a decorating contest, Troup decided to give his third floor balcony unit a makeover.

It was a modest display, but it lit something in him. Troup headed to Lowe's after Christmas and bought 10,000 lights on clearance.

"I told my wife, 'Next year, we're doing to be in our own house so I can put these up,"' he remembered.

That prophesy came true. They bought the Stone Street house in 2007, and that Christmas, the Billings North Pole began in earnest.

Kristie and Chris Troup and their son, Ahrian, 4, stand outside their Stone Street home in 2009.

In 2009, the Troups won The Gazette’s annual Share the Spirit holiday decorating contest. Some might stop there. But not Troup. He had to get bigger and better each year.

This year, he started wrapping the house in lights on Sept. 5. But that's not where the setup really begins. It takes a month before that just to fix everything that was broken or worn down by the Montana winter. After that it's about three months of setup. And then another two to take it all down and organize everything. In the off-season, he stores everything in his garage and attic, and he's got a shop and some storage units as well.

December, when the display is up and running, might sound like a respite. But it's not. It takes a lot to to keep all this going for a month. He's constantly out in the yard, chatting with folks who stop by, but also fixing little breaks, replacing dead bulbs and making sure the display isn't damaged by wind.

He's had his house rewired three times. Wires are buried under the yard. There are 18 20-amp breakers just for Christmas. During December, there's more power going to the Troup's display than there is their house.

Still, Troup said it costs him more to use his air conditioning in July than it does to run the lights in December. The display is almost entirely LED, making it very energy efficient.

Some of Chris Troup's blow mold Santas on display in 2017.

"I'd used to go online and talk to these guys with these huge displays throughout the United States and the world," Troup said. "I never though I'd ever get this big."

It has. People come from Bozeman or Sheridan, Wyoming, just to look at the Billings North Pole. Stone Street gets backed up for blocks. At peak, it can be a 15-20 minute wait. Troup doesn't turn his lights on until 5:30 or 6 p.m. to allow his neighbors time to get home before the rush.

How do those neighbors feel about having a bright landmark next door?

"They're big into the Christmas spirit," Troup said. "I have to thank them for giving me the opportunity to continue."

Eric Babb is shown in 2017 with the "Ditto" sign he put in his yard next door to Chris Troup's lavishly decorated home at 4516 Stone St.

All of Stone street gets in on the fun. Troup's next door neighbor has a hand-painted sign that reads "DITTO" pointing to the North Pole.

And all that's out there isn't even everything Troup has.

"In 15 years, I've never gotten all of it out," he said. "There's so much stuff I've built that just never made it out there. It's insane."

This has been a part of Troup's life for 15 years. It wasn't an easy choice to step away. Last Christmas, he decided that 2022 would be the end.

"I'm gonna miss it. I'm gonna cry like there's no tomorrow," he admitted.

But it's exhausting at times. He misses being able to just put decorations up, not have to plan a year in advance. He'd like to take the family on a December vacation, or be able to celebrate without worrying about his massive display.

"We're stuck here all month," Troup laughed. "I want to go out and look at Christmas lights."

Chris Troup has built a popular Christmas display at 4516 Stone Street.

One of the other biggest displays in town is just up the street from the Billings North Pole. Santa's Workshop, at 4210 Stone St., rivals Troup's display. When the North Pole shuts down, a lot of the decorations will be going to Santa's Workshop.

It's fitting that the Billings North Pole will live on, because the display has become something greater now.

Troup accepts donations, in the form of toys, and money he can use to buy toys. The toys are then donated to Child Protective Services, who distribute them to kids in need throughout the community. Their 2022 donation was the biggest yet.

Troup has been donating since before the Billings North Pole, back when his family lived in their old apartment. He's gotten to watch these kids grow up.

"My biggest thing is just to tell everyone 'thank you,'" Troup said. "I just never thought it would get as big as it did."

"Next year," Troup said, "I'm not starting until Thanksgiving night."

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Arts and Entertainment Reporter

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