Finding Minnesota: Maple Grove Christmas Display
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) -- One of the easiest ways to show off the holiday spirit is with a string of lights, and one homeowner in Maple Grove built a display that illuminates an entire block.
Sue and Sean Devine have attracted holiday crowds for nearly 20 years and, recently, their neighbors have found a way to get involved that leaves everyone laughing.
A Christmas display featuring 35,000 lights doesn't happen overnight. The Devine's have spent nearly two decades building their ever-evolving collection of lights, plastic Santa's and blow-up characters.
"It's gotten bigger every year until three years ago when I hit 50,000 lights and I backed off," said Sean Devine.
"It's a lot of work but when it's done, everyone comes by comments on it and tells us what their favorite part of it is," said Sue Devine.
The official lighting happens each year on Thanksgiving night and installation takes weeks of preparation.
"Usually, in the middle of October, I start decorating the back of the house," Sean said.
The Devine's are reminded that the payoff is worth every minute. Countless cars pass by each day, turning their home into a holiday tradition.
"We had seven limos in half hour Saturday night," Sue said.
When the Christmas spirit shines that bright, naturally, the neighbors want to get involved. Part of the display extends into the neighbors' properties.
"I snow blow the path. That's my contribution to the lights," said Steve Christnagel.
Steve and Kilee Christnagel wanted to showcase their own light display but knew they couldn't compete with their neighbors. When they moved in 10 years ago, they started with a strand of icicle lights.
"There's always been the feeling of what are we going to do. "We used to just put up a few lights and then we saw this idea online and said we got to do this," Steve said.
The idea involved a simple string of rope lighting bent and twisted to spell the word "ditto."
"I loved ditto when Steven told me about the idea. It's old school," Kilee said. "The first time I said, what is that," said Thomas Christnagel, Steve and Kilee's son.
The Devine's immediately embraced the small display. In fact, when the ditto display first went up four years ago, Sean gave the Christnagel's a little advice on where to place the lights.
"When he first put it up, he put it up over his front door and you couldn't see it from over here. I said, you need to move that to the front of garage cause no one can see it over there," Sean said.
Sean also helped the Devine's this year when the strand of lights stopped working. He lent the Christnagel's some rope lighting from his own display.
While the Christnagel display pales in comparison to the Devine display, don't mistake it for a lackluster attempt at holiday cheer. After all, the secret to a great lights display is knowing where to let the lights shine.
"At Christmas time, we'll say, follow the lights, you'll see the Griswald's and we're next to it," Kilee said.
"I just love Christmas and the lights bring a lot of joy and happiness to the people around us," Sue said.
If you want to see the display for yourself the address is 11680 65th Avenue North in Maple Grove.
The lights are on every night until about 10 p.m. and you're encouraged to walk the path to see the back of the house display.