COLD LAKE - Marty Belisle has been creating huge, colourful outdoor Christmas and Halloween displays at his family's house in Cold Lake for 33 years.
It has been a fun hobby that he could dabble with all year long. He ensures the light displays were working, the music is playing, the snow is cleared, and he keeps the area around his home safe for the viewers and visitors.
This past Halloween was his last spooky display though, and this holiday season is his final Christmas display.
The Christmas display will be turned on for the month of December from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and the week of Christmas.
Belisle says he sees a few hundred cars a night stop by to see the display, with closer to 500 vehicles a night as Christmas nears. Security cameras face the street and house so he can monitor the display to ensure it is all operating correctly. During Christmas week, the cameras help him track visitors as he likes to hand out candy canes and talk with people.
On New Year's Day, Belisle will begin taking down the last of his impressive displays.
Belisle has become known across the city for his efforts over the last three decades.
“Marty and his family have provided so many people with so much joy and happiness over the past 33 years with their effort they have gone to with the lights, decoration and music,” says City of Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland. “[It’s] simply amazing. It feels like Cold Lake has lost an institutional fabric of our community, and council, on behalf of the community, wants to say ‘thank you’ to Marty and his family.”
Belisle, whose favourite Christmas memory as a child was spending time in Antler, Sask., with his family on Christmas Eve at his grandparents' house after mass, says it was the birth of his daughters that inspired him to decorate for the holidays.
“My inspiration came from the birth of our two girls and wanting to put up some lights and decor for them, [then] trying to do a little more every year.”
Some of Belisle's favourite Christmas displays he has seen over the years have included a home on Lakeshore Drive in Cold Lake in the early 1990s, and Edmonton's Maisy's Magical Christmas on 97th Street, and Edmonton's light displays on Candy Cane Lane and Hawrelak Park.
Belisle shared some advice for people interested in putting up their first holiday displays.
“I always planned for the next year when my display was up for this year. I could assess what I liked, didn't like, what handled the snow, wind, how easy it is to put up or take down and how easy it is to store away. Most importantly, buy your supplies after the season when everything goes on sale or clearance,” he recommends.
While Belisle will scale back his efforts, he does plan to have a few displays out during the 2024 season. For Christmas, he wants to keep a few static displays and some lights up.
“There is no Grinch in this guy,” he says. And for Halloween, his minimalistic plans include putting out pumpkins and lights and handing out treats.
As for the future of his display, he would love to keep all the lights and decorations in the community. There has been interest in the items he is selling, with more items being up for grabs in the last weeks of December.
“I hope to sell as a package to a company or individual wanting to do a little something extra for their advertising or to add to their own display,” he says.
Belisle says he has shed a few tears after hearing how his display has become a part of other families' holiday traditions, and he has been feeling grateful his family encouraged him to do the last display in 2023.
"I honestly was not aware how much our community enjoyed the display. Our daughters, with their families, have made a big deal for the last year coming back for Halloween and having our three grandkids hit the buttons to light up the Christmas display for the last time,” he explains.
Some of his favourite memories include seeing families bring their kids to the house, two marriage engagements that happened in front of the lights, and all the homemade cards and treats and positive comments and handshakes he has received over the years.
“It is absolutely heartwarming and humbling. We have an amazing community,” Belisle says.
“I would like to thank my family for all the support and for all the time I needed to stay at home to manage the display or I was busy setting up, taking down, programming or fabricating the display. I would also like to thank my neighbours for their patience with traffic, noise, blinking lights and having to buy lots of Halloween treats. I would like to thank our community for all the support, wonderful comments, cards and treats over the years. We are so fortunate to live in such a wonderful community.”
