MEDINA, Ohio -- Nobody loves Christmas like Mark and Dana Klaus. Four years ago, the couple opened Castle Noel, a year-round Christmas attraction and museum in Medina. With his white beard, Mark even looks like Santa and, yes, Klaus is his real last name.

The couple was eager and a little skeptical when they heard about a warehouse located in the shadows of Tower City in the Flats full of the mall's old Christmas decorations. The warehouse was being emptied so it could be rented out. Everything had to go.

A relative of a friend who worked at the warehouse invited the Klaus' on Monday to rummage through the stuff to see if there was anything worth saving.

"I was blown away," Mark Klaus said. "When I first walked in there I saw some ribbons and some Christmas trees and thought, 'Aw the really important stuff is gone.'

"Then I got into this room and I saw, holy cow, there's some stuff in there and I started looking further and said, 'Oh my gosh look at this massive balloon!'"

The couple couldn't contain their excitement on the Facebook Live video they posted of their treasure hunt. "This is what we went down and saw every year," Dana says with glee the moment in the video when they realize just what they had found. "This is my childhood!"

 

Anyone who visited Tower City in the 1990s probably remembers the festive balloons and intricate flying machines piloted by ornate figures that were hung in the atrium, above the center fountain during the holidays. For the past ten years or so, though, those decorations sat unused, stored in a warehouse where they collected dust, fell into disrepair and scavenged for parts.

While not everything they found was in salvageable condition, the Klaus' haul was enough to fill two truckloads.

"These flying machines are incredibly huge," Mark Klaus said. "The one that we have that is the most complete is the Pied Piper with four mice pedaling this giant bicycle."

The Klaus' also took home the old King Midas flying machine, a "Willy Wonka-ish" biplane, a pair of row boat flying machines and two huge balloons.

"The window displays at Halle's and Higbee's, anybody over 55 remembers those," Klaus said. "A lot of people younger than that don't remember those as much.

"But they do remember when Tower City was constructed in the '80s and they created the mall and brought these incredible flying machines there. They really touch a whole generation of people in this city."

Klaus wouldn't say how much he paid for the historic decorations, only that it was worth it.

"This is sort of an ongoing mission of mine to save anything we can from Cleveland history and share it with as many people as we can."

He said it will take some time to restore and reassemble the new acquisitions before putting them on display within the museum's collection of holiday movie props, vintage department store window displays and Christmas memorabilia. They're hoping to find a sponsor to help them create a Christmas parade float out of the balloons.

"People are going to get a look at these things this year," Klaus assured.

Castle Noel, 260 South Court Street just off the square in Medina, bills itself as "America's Largest Year Round Indoor Christmas Entertainment Attraction." Visit castlenoel.com for hours and pricing.

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