GREEN RIVER — Robert “Bob” Bostick is making spirits bright yet again with his festive, Wyoming-themed Christmas lights display.

His house, located at 1915 W Teton Blvd., has become a must see location each Christmas season with the growing lights display over the last two decades. The lights are born from a love of big holiday displays from Bob’s childhood.

“When I was growing up, my parents used to take us to Jensen Street, and Jensen Street was always just all lit up. It was really cool and that’s kind of where our Christmas spirit kind of got started,” Bob said. “My dad, ever since he watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, he’s wanted to have a house that looked like that, that looks like the Griswolds.”

Now, the Bosticks have just that. They first started with the decorations in the late 90s, but it was 2000 when the light display we see now was truly born.

“My mom always wanted a nativity scene, so my dad found a craft site and they had this way that you could build a nativity scene out of plywood. They provided you with the drawing, the drill bit, the pattern where to drill the holes, and even the lights,” he said. “I was looking at that after a year or two, and I’m like, ‘oh, I can create some other stuff.'”

From there, all the different animals and other characters and shapes came to be. The current display started with a tribute to Wyoming.

“I wanted to build a cowboy, which you can see out front,” Bob said.

Next, he created wolves, which were green, to celebrate Green River. “I put them on the roof because I was afraid people from Rock Springs would come steal them. Silly thing, but that’s how they started going up on the roof,” he said.

Bob now utilizes his entire roof for his display, which is what makes his decorations so interesting and different. To support the figures on the roof, he cuts a piece of 2×4 and bolts a door hinge to the wood. Then he uses brackets, which are spray painted to look like the roof for summer time, and the brackets are screwed into the roof. Using tie wire, he then attaches the figures to the brackets. Brackets are also sometimes placed in front of the figures to stabilize them.

“Anyone who wants to do this to their roof has to understand you’re going to be putting brackets up there and ruining your roof,” he laughed.

Wyoming Theme Continues

One of the other stars of Bob’s display is the Wyoming state flag, which was inspired by a Rock Springs display showcasing another state’s flag.

“I was with my parents and we were driving around Rock Springs High School just looking at Christmas decorations, and there was this house that had the roof lit up. So we’re checking that out, and I’m like, ‘you got to be kidding me,’ and what they did was they made the state flag of Texas in the lights. It was impressive, it was really cool and creative, but I started thinking, ‘no, this is Wyoming.’ So I bought a flag shape and then kind of traced out Wyoming’s flag,” Bob said.

He is now on his third installment of the flag, as the lights begin to wear out and aren’t as bright anymore. Since the display started, he’s added several different types of animals, many of which are Wyoming animals. The display even includes a grizzly bear, which he placed in front of the Grand Teton display he built, as a tribute to Grizzly 399.

He starts the animals with cutouts that are made to be displayed in the yard, and he drills holes in the wood to then thread the bulbs through. Then the wire is stapled to the back. For the more intricate figures, such as the Grand Teton with Jenny Lake and Devils Tower, he draws the designs on the wood and then traces where the lights go on the back. He labels what color lights go where, drills the holes, paints the front side a flat black, and then puts the lights in. 

Next year, the main display will feature the Lower Falls at Yellowstone with the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Bob even goes to scope out the scenes he creates, taking his own photos to use as reference.

“I’m trying to make it look like a canyon with orange and amber lights and white lights and so on, so forth,” he said. “Then the green is going to represent the trees and stuff like that.” 

Common Questions

Bob gets a few common questions about his display, one of which being ‘how much is the electric bill?’ The answer isn’t as steep as you’d think, with all the lights being LED. He said it’s anywhere from $130 to $150 for the month the lights are up. 

How does he ensure he can plug everything in without tripping a breaker? It helps that he’s an electrician, for starters. 

“I looked at the service to our house, and it’s a 200 amps service. ‘Wow, I got an extra 100 amps.’ So I put a panel in the garage and I individually put 10 outlets around the house on their own circuit. So that’s how I’m able to plug everything in without tripping a GFI or tripping a breaker because there’s multiple circuits,” he said. 

So unlike the Griswolds in Christmas Vacation, there’s no disappointment when it comes time to light everything up. He also runs 3-way extension cords across the house and maps it all out so everything can be plugged in without overloading a circuit. 

“For all the electrical inspectors out there, it’s in compliance because it’s temporary and it’s only temporary for a month,” he joked.

Another question he gets a lot is how often he has to rebuild the displays, which is every five to six years. He knows he has to rebuild something when the lights get dimmer than the rest of the decorations. 

Additionally, people are always curious as to how long it takes to put up and take down the display, and where does it all go? 

He stores the decorations in his garage, as well as in a storage area. As for putting the lights up, he takes the week of Thanksgiving off from work and gets everything set up then. If the weather is nice, it takes him about 5-7 days to set it all up, with the help of his parents and sometimes a friend. When it comes time to take it all down, he said he can get everything on the roof taken down in just a day if the weather is nice. 

“When the weather breaks and it’s nice, that’s when everything comes off the roof,” he said. 

If he has to pick a favorite part of the display, he’ll choose the Wyoming Cowboy and the Wyoming flag, though it’s not an easy decision. 

“I love everything, but I am partial to the cowboy and the flag. That’s where it all started, and I honestly still cannot believe I pulled that flag off,” he said. “Those are probably the ones that I feel real partial to, but I like all the displays.” 

How many lights are there in the display? While he’s not entirely sure, his guess is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000.

“The state flag has 520 lights, the Cowboy has 280 lights, the Grand Teton and Jenny Lake has 880 lights,” Bostick listed. “Each basic animal is either 50 or 70 lights, the elk is 210 and the moose is 280. You can start to do the math and see how it’s hard to figure.”

Pictures documenting this year’s set up process. Photos courtesy of Bob Bostick

Lastly, is he going to enter into any Christmas light competitions? No, he said. 

“Those people are cutthroat,” he laughed. “And it’s not for the people, they’re trying to win a prize. I just want everybody to enjoy it.” 

Plans for the Future

While the Wyoming theme has become the staple of his display, Bob is considering switching it up in future years. 

“I’m just going to be random,” he said. “I’ve got an idea for a Safari scene with lions, tigers, crocodiles, water buffalo, all that stuff. And then there’s an ocean scene. I was also thinking about the possibility of doing a tribute to all the local schools, like Green River, Rock Springs, Western and then the University of Wyoming.” 

Bob enjoys doing the display, and he wants to continue to have fun with it and try new things. While he isn’t thinking about it year-round, during the holiday season he is always thinking about what to do next. 

“There’s different ideas in my head. I’m committed for the next four years, and because I’m 56, that will put me at 60. If I’m still in good shape, I’ll continue to do it because I like doing it.” 

While Bob’s parents help him put decorations up along the fence and in the yard, he’s the one up on the roof getting the display set up, but he has no plans to stop the display any time soon. Even facing injuries such as a broken ankle in the past and an injured shoulder this year, he keeps the display going. His motivation for continuing the display year after year is simple: it’s for the community. 

“That’s the main thing. I don’t do it for the attention, although I like it when people come by because I want them to enjoy it. I do it for the community,” he said. “What really got me excited was a couple years ago during Covid, it was a tough year to get this stuff up because I fractured my ankle and it had just gotten healed. But I had a conversation with this lady who said she remembered when she was I think 8 years old, and her parents brought her by when I first started doing this. And now she’s got her kids coming to see it, like that is cool.” 

Green River residents have come to anticipate the Bostick house, and that community experience is not lost on Bob.

“People tell me, ‘when I get depressed, I drive by,’ and that’s exactly why I do it. To make people feel good,” he said. 

You can check out the display through the New Year. Just simply drive down West Teton Boulevard and you won’t miss it.