BALTIMORE — Her name is Ida Fliggins, but everyone knows her as Miss Mae.
On Hilton Street in Baltimore's Allendale neighborhood, Miss Mae runs two daycare centers; bringing joy to kids is what she does. But this time of year, she takes on another role: curator of the Hilton Winter Wonderland.
"Tears come in my eyes. I start to crying," Fliggins told WMAR. "I just rejoice when I see it. When I see the parents and kids go by, I rejoice, yes.”
Across thirteen homes - a massive display of holiday lights and inflatables. Fliggins spreading holiday cheer on the street is a 20-year tradition, but it only got so big very recently.
"I don’t know how they got all the stuff," asked Collin Brooks, a 9-year-old who lives in the neighborhood. "How did they get a Santa on top of the roof?"
The answer: with a lot of hard work, and plenty of merry, starting in November.
Miss Mae works with her daughter, Amanda Stokes, who, on November 1st, designs and lays out everything on display with a team of four. Stokes also designs for the holidays professionally.
"It’s very fulfilling, I love it," Stokes told WMAR. "I turned it into a profession, so you know I love it."
And the display has it all: your favorite characters, Santa Clauses and Grinches, snowmen, comfortable as can be in the chilly December air.
"Everything that’s going on in Baltimore, this is a bright spot," said Sheryl Simon, a Southwest Baltimore neighbor, "If you’re down, you’re feeling down, you don’t have no cheer going on for christmas, this is the place to be."
Organizers expect plenty to come by this weekend and take a look; a beautiful sight, walking through a Hilton wonderland.
