GALION — Traffic heading down Portland Way South near the intersection of Boyd Boulevard usually slows down this time of year. Drivers gawk, stop and even honk their horns once in a while.
They’re passing the “Griswold” residence.
Ken Klingelhafer, 798 Boyd Blvd., sets up an annual Christmas display like no other. But most of his holiday decorations – inside and out – were made decades ago. We’re talking blow molds, plastic wall hangings and Christmas tree lights from as far back as the 1940’s.
If it’s vintage, Klingelhafer has it.
“I get the Griswold comments a lot. A lot of people think I’m crazy,” said Klingelhafer, who grew up in town across the street from the public library. “I don’t turn too many decorations down, and people give them to me too, even friends of my sister, who lives in Toledo.”
His two-story brick home is almost blinding with thousands of colored LED lights and strobe lights, all commercial grade. But nestled in the snow are images of Christmases past – a massive collection of Santa’s, snowmen, candles and carolers, all blow mold figurines made in the 1960’s.
The inside is a throwback to a bygone era, too. A plastic paradise of candoliers, vinyl wreaths and light-up wall hangings. A six-foot aluminum tree and color wheel shimmer in the corner, while a live evergreen is decorated with non-breakable ornaments and seven-light strands of C-6’s – lightbulbs dating to the 1940’s.
“Ninety-percent of what you see here is dimmed down,” said Klingelhafer, who pushes a remote control to light up the holiday décor in each room. “If you come down just a bit, they last a long time, plus it keeps the electric bill down.”
Klingelhafer, who retired from the Kroger Company, always decorated for Christmas, but it wasn’t until 10 years ago when his wife, Dianna, passed away that he started frequenting flea markets and antique stores. He found red wreaths and bubble lights. And he found his passion.
“I thought, we used to hang those in our windows growing up as a child,” he said. “I really started liking them, this older stuff. It brings back childhood memories. And then eBay came along. Everything I saw on there I wanted. I just started going crazy.”
Klingelhafer’s display is traditionally set up the weekend before Thanksgiving when dozens of relatives swoop in from out of town to help. They start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, nephews on ladder tops stringing strands along the roofline, older family members and youngsters wrapping bushes.
The display changes each year, even on the inside. His kitchen this year is home to more than a dozen nativity sets. Dining room hutches are lined with plastic tree decorations displayed in the original cardboard boxes. A six-foot artificial tree is glowing with bell shaped cracked ice bulbs made by G.E.
“I haven’t had a circuit breaker kick yet,” said Klingelhafer, who orders most of his outdoor lighting from a warehouse in Texas and has 60 extension cords plugged into the winter wonderland of wires. The display is lit from 5-11 p.m. daily through New Year’s.
And his Christmas cards? Chevy Chase, of course, from National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation” because deep down he’s a Griswold. And darn proud of it.