TOLEDO (WTOL) - There’s a new Christmas light display in town, and it’s something you probably won’t see anywhere else.
You can drive by and see it right on the corner of Alexis and Secor roads.
It likely won’t reach the grandeur of the venerable Toledo Zoo Lights Before Christmas, but the so-called Toledo Christmas Weed has grown into its own brand of novelty and notoriety.
On Monday, we spoke with the family who started it all.
Troy Emrick started the famous “Toledo Christmas Weed” on the corner of Alexis and Secor.
"He saw it going home from church, and said that’s a really big weed. We should just decorate that!” said his daughter, Alyssa Emrick.
The Emrick family created it to get everyone in the spirit of Christmas.
“He’s been talking about it for years, how he’s wanted to decorate something random so when people saw it they’d be surprised. But we had no idea it would become like a community Facebook page and people would take Christmas pictures by it,” Alyssa said.
Alyssa’s dad put tinsel on the original weed growing near the intersection. Others started adding their own decorations to the mix as well.
And despite being vandalized once or twice, people have continued to add pieces and parts to the display to make sure it doesn’t go away.
“It’s actually nice! It’s festive and you know it’s got a life of its own which is kind of cool!” said one bystander.
The Emrick family hopes the display will continue to shine bright and become a Toledo Christmas tradition.
The Christmas Weed on the corner of Secor and Alexis brought smiles to a lot of people on Sunday night.
The evolution of the Toledo Christmas Weed grew, well, like a weed.
After gaining notice on Sunday, the weed was further covered with blinking lights and ornaments. There’s even a miniature train set circling nearby. By 11:30 p.m. the tree even had a skirt.
The weed even has its own Facebook page, inspiring those to “find the beauty in even the ‘smallest’ of things.”
“Something so small, unnoticed, overlooked and unwanted by most is now ‘shining’ bright,” a post on the page says.
“Look at how many people have come together in spirit over a ‘little weed’ bringing presents such as lights to make it shine, a skirt for support and warmth ... all of this shows the love and goodness in Toledo. Don’t let one sad-hearted person take away what this ‘little weed’ has created. Keep that feeling going Toledo strong!”
As of Monday afternoon, the Toledo Christmas Weed Facebook page had more than 2,700 likes.
One fan even took the time to give the Christmas Weed a photo shoot, so it had some “proper photos.”
