Even with 100,000 lights, power bill isn't too awful

More than 100,000 Christmas lights adorn Chris Hoover's home just outside Battle Ground.

The extension cords connecting those lights and other elements of his holiday display would measure almost a mile long if connected end-to-end. Hoover started stringing them together and connecting them to his annual display just after Halloween ended.

No, Hoover does not go into the Christmas season lightly.

The Purdue University graduate and manager at TRW Automotive has always enjoyed decorating for the holiday. But the hobby took on a life of its own about five years ago when a friend of Hoover's emailed him a video link showing Christmas light displays timed to a musical program.

"I decided I needed to figure out how to do that," he said. "And the animation piece has grown from there."

The music timed to go with Hoover's display this year runs almost 40 minutes. Visitors can tune their car radios to 88.1 FM while watching lights dance across his front yard.

Hoover recently answered some questions for the J&C about his over-the-top holiday lights display on Greenview Drive, in the River Bluffs subdivision in northern Tippecanoe County. Here's what he had to say.

Question:How much time to does it take for you to put this all together?

Answer:I get asked that a lot. It's kind of a year-round hobby for me because in the off-season I'm either programming or sequencing songs, or I'm building something to add to the display. I start setting up on Halloween weekend, and we have it ready to go Thanksgiving night. The lights came on at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Q: What are some of the highlights of this year's display?

A: This is the first time we've topped 100,000 lights, at least by my count. We have 35 mini-trees lining the front yard ... four leaping arches ... a Bellagio pole, but none of this stuff really makes any sense to you unless you see it. ... There are a lot of flavors of animated Christmas lighting if you go looking out there for it.

Q: How much does it cost you to do all this?

A: I don't talk about that. That's for me to know. (laughing). As far as the lights and that stuff go, most everything's homemade or else it's just light strings. I usually hit the day-after Christmas sales if I need more lights, but I've got quite an inventory built up right now.

(The power bill) isn't bad. Because it's animated the lights are off more than they're on. My power bill is no worse than it is in July or August when I have to use the air conditioning.

Q: What do you enjoy most about it?

A: It's a way for me to go out and accomplish something. The job I'm in right now, since it's management, the way you accomplish things is by having other people get things done that you need them to. This is something where I can go out and get my hands dirty.

The first year I did it, when word finally got out and traffic started backing up, a lot of people were trying to give me money for it. But I don't want to get paid to do my hobby. ... So what we decided to do was collect donations and give them back to charity. We've given money in the past to Family Services, The Salvation Army, schools up here in Battle Ground, a local Scout pack, and we sponsored a soccer team.