Justin Barno’s house in Circle Pines is a beacon of holiday cheer. Barno’s Christmas light show is a popular attraction in the north metro and has a magnetic tug on people who come to see his spectacular light display.
“I would say over 2,000 cars (a season),” Barno said. “We’ve actually had red on our maps before if you look at Google maps. It’s been red. On the weekend before Christmas I actually get my friends and their kids to come out and help direct traffic. We have lines out on the main street. We try to keep traffic flowing.”
Said Barno: “My house would be on the scale of having more pixels than a lot of the other ones.”
Besides the neon there’s also a soundtrack of holiday music that adds another level of festive fun to the display.
“What we try to do is please everybody and put on whatever show we can,” Barno said. “The kids dance around to the dancing music and then the parents like all of the classic Christmas (stuff).”
PASSION FOR HOLIDAY LIGHTS
Barno has been doing this for 12 years and it truly is his passion.
“It is,” Barno said. “I started it when I was a kid, actually at my parent’s house. Then as soon as I purchased this house I moved in to decorate it and my neighbors are like, ‘oh what’s that?’ Now my neighbors have been very supportive and very interested in learning more about it every time too.”
Barno actually begins planning his Christmas light display in January and the set up starts in August. He definitely puts in plenty of hours getting things ready for the holiday season.
Besides illuminating his neighborhood and spreading the holiday spirit, Barno receives donations for Ronald McDonald House Midwest. He has raised almost 20k.
“I brought this cause to our show to raise money for them,” Barno said, “because a friend in the community, the lighting community, was doing it for many years and he got out of the hobby.”
In these challenging times, Barno is just happy that his Christmas magic can make people smile.
“Especially COVID year,” Barno said. ” It was amazing to people out here because we know a lot of people didn’t get out of their house that often. This brought joy.”
Barno’s holiday show only adds $60 to his monthly power bill. The light display runs through 1/3/ 2023.
