HELENA — By day, the Ortman Family home off Traces Drive in the West Helena Valley looks typical. By night, it’s transformed into a shining spectacle for the community to enjoy.
The Ortman Family has been putting on an over-the-top Christmas light show for three years and counting. They told MTN News what it’s like to spread festive around Helena.
“It's a lot; we start in October because we do a Halloween show, we start in October, but all the Christmas stuff you see here, we put up after that, so almost half of November is spent in the yard putting stuff up, and the other half is spent getting the music, songs, and that stuff ready to go,” said John Ortman, the show’s creator.
Ortman, the mind behind the marvel, says the show helps him pass on a family tradition to his kids while sharing it with spectators.
“I grew up in Birdseye at the end of a dirt road. No one came to look at my lights, and no one ever got to do anything up at my house because we didn’t have much traffic. So, I’m kind of reliving my childhood in this house. It has just been something fun to do. Now that it has grown so much and the community has loved it, we get letters from people, and it has just continued, and it has been super amazing.
The show is choreographed, and drivers can tune into a radio frequency to see the lights dance to the music.
As for the Ortman children’s favorite part of the family show: “Probably that we get to hand out candy canes,” says John’s daughter Claire.
When asked how much his show costs, John said, “It’s in the thousands; I won’t go into specifics because if I do, my wife will make me stop once she knows how much we actually spend on it”.
You can find the Ortman home at 7207 Traces Drive in Helena. The light shows run nightly Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm and 5:30 pm to 10:30 pm on Friday and Saturday during the holiday season. The Ortmans ask visitors to be respectful of neighbors and to turn off headlights but to keep running lights on for safety. For updates on the show, check its Facebook page.
