How a superfan couple made their house a Toronto Maple Leafs shrine
If you find yourself wandering around the streets of North Toronto, it shouldn’t take long to find the biggest Maple Leafs fans around.
Come playoff time, Michael and Sara Adamson deck out their front lawn entirely in Leafs gear, complete with jerseys, equipment, and even a bubble hockey set that they encourage passersby to play a quick game on.
Fareen Karim/blogTO
This property is the second that the couple has adorned with Leaf gear. Complete with a sign telling visitors to take a selfie with a plush of the team’s mascot, Carlton, it’s become an annual tradition for each playoff run. With the Leafs now making the postseason nine years in a row, thousands of folks have come through to check out the digs each year.
Fareen Karim/blogTO
The basis behind the house was pretty simple: the Adamsons had a whole lot of Leafs merchandise and weren’t sure what to do with it. Starting with “about five items out front,” the Adamsons figured it would be a pretty simple way to support their favourite hockey team.
But once a 2013 Toronto Star article picked up the first images of their front lawn and brought them to a wider audience, the Adamsons have built up a bit of a reputation for being a local gathering spot to chat about the Blue and White.
Fareen Karim/blogTO
“It’s just fun, because everyone’s happy. Neighbours are happy, passersby are happy. And it just makes a lot of people happy, and that makes my wife and I really happy,” Michael said in an interview with Offside. “We buy some new things each year, and some people come by and drop off some things.”
Usually, the only thing that stops the Leaf House from being in full swing is the weather, as the residents have to bring all their gear inside in case rain is in the forecast.
But when a serious health scare could’ve halted the annual tradition, the couple turned to their local community for help.
Suffering a stroke two years ago, Michael wasn’t exactly in shape to be decorating his house or any others.
“I couldn’t feel my right side, and I was completely paralyzed. I couldn’t talk. I’ve learned to walk, I’ve learned to talk [again]. I’ve come a long way in the last two years… our friends help decorate it, our neighbours are amazing. All of our neighbours are really supportive of us. Couldn’t do it without them,” Michael added.
With the Leafs one game away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs — but needing a crucial final victory over the Ottawa Senators — you can bet that the Adamsons will be tuning in for as long as the playoff run lasts.
- You might also like:
- Leafs coach Berube gets a little feisty with Toronto media