Christmas display mainstay Allen Family Lights shines on after death of patriarch

Trevor Allen didn’t worry about who had the most extravagant decorations or brightest bulbs.

“He really wanted to make people happy,” his daughter, Chloe Allen, said.

Beginning in 2018, Trevor turned his yard into a Christmas-themed light show set to music and invited the city to come watch. Trevor, 49, suddenly died on Dec. 12, making this year’s show the last one he created.

But the Allen Family Lights show won’t go dark. The family intends to keep the tradition going, Chloe said.

“Seeing everybody's smiles and the joy they had when they would watch the show made me want to continue it,” she said in an interview this week.

In 2019, Trevor told CBC News he spent five hours a night for months planning and building things from scratch in his garage for that year’s display. He said he was inspired by Clark Griswold from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

The display grew every year and now uses about 70,000 LEDs. Allen said she used to help her dad with simple tasks when she was younger, but this year she took on some sequencing duties — programming the lights with different colours and patterns.

“The software is overwhelming when you look at it, but I got a lot of help from him trying to come up with ideas,” Allen said.

She wants to eventually expand the light show to the house's second floor and include more sequences, "so people can get the same joy from watching the shows that I have," Allen said.

Trevor Allen became known as Regina’s Christmas lights guy, but was also a curling coach and a handyman with plenty of hobbies who put passion into everything he did, his daughter said.

“I hope that people will remember my dad, not just for the lights but for what he was outside of the lights and the joy he wanted to bring to his community,” Allen said.

You can see the light display at 5140 Genereux Drive until Jan. 4. The show runs daily from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The music is transmitted on 93.1 FM so drivers can tune in as they pass.