It’s more than two weeks away from the holiday, but it sure does feel like Christmas on Crown Point Parkway in Strongsville. The Christmas light display there could even make the Grinch smile.
Since the 90s, people living on the street have transformed it into a modern day North Pole. Christmas decorations cover nearly every house for a tradition that continues to get bigger and better.
"When we first moved in, the year after I put 35 lights around the front door, my wife asked me if that was all I was going to do and this is the result,” said Dan Hoag, who started decorating in 1988.
You know what they say: Go big or go home. Hoag took that advice and ran with it, bringing a one-of-a-kind Christmas light display right to his doorstep and then some.
"It was actually kind of an accident,” he said. “You get started in it. and it becomes very addicting."
It features dozens and dozens of Christmas decorations that starts in the front yard to the side of his house and on the roof.
"I have about 62,000 + lights. I kind of quit counting a couple of years ago,” he said.
When asked if it was safe to say if he has got OCD right now, Hoag replied, “Oh you can count on that."
Hoag started decorating his house first, then his love for Christmas spread to the entire street
“It's a beautiful thing,” he said. “I started decorating. My neighbor moved in a couple of years ago and we started working together. We ended up organizing the whole street in 1993 to where one time we had all 11 houses decorated.”
The display would even make Mr. Kringle himself jealous--well maybe not at the cost of Hoag's electric bill.
“Okay, it’s $700-800 dollars,” he said about his electric bill, which is one of the most frequent questions he’s asked about the display.
But it's the price he's willing to pay to put smiles along the faces of a number of families across Northeast Ohio who've made the trip a tradition of their own.
"We have four engagements that have taken place either in the front of my house or in the driveway,” Hoag said.
For some, it's needed more than he will ever know.
"This is my first year without my father in my Christmas,” said Natalie Moran. “It definitely helps bring out the spirit [of Christmas] a lot more.
That's what drives Hoag and the rest of the homeowners on his street, lifting the spirits of people every holiday season.
Each year the organizers of the Christmas light display raise money for charitable causes. This year, they are collecting money for two people on their street who are suffering from cancer.
You can find more information on about Crown Point on its public group Facebook page.
