JOLIET, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A well-loved wooden moose won’t be on display for Christmas this year in Joliet, but its owner is hoping it returns to make people smile in the next couple of months.
“The wind was so strong, of course, he’s like a giant kite out there. He’s made of plywood,” said Holly Tomashek, who owns Mr. Moose.
When last week’s strong winds knocked over the moose, one of its legs was shattered and hundreds of people commented or liked a post made on a Joliet Facebook page, “You Know You’re From Joliet If….”
“Twice now somebody has called him the 'Joliet Icon' and I thought, ‘really?’
Tomashek has been putting her 10-feet tall, 9-feet long moose on display outside her corner house in Joliet for more than five years.
“We put a wreath around his neck one Christmas. And then, it was Valentine’s Day, so I covered his body in red hearts," she said.
She said she was about to take it down after that Valentine’s Day, “but the neighbor down the way came over and said, ‘You are going to decorate that thing for St. Patrick’s Day, aren’t ya? I told my grandson you were.’”
And since then, people have come to expect the moose to greet them as they drive past the corner of Midland and West Acres.
“People would come and take pictures in front of him and things like that and so, he became a big deal on Facebook," Tomashek said.
The moose has also offered some people a sense of relief during the pandemic. Tomashek remembers when one woman saw her near the moose, got out of her car and walked up to Tomashek saying, “I just love the moose and she begins to cry. She said, ‘It’s been such a hard year with COVID. I see him every day going to work and every day coming home and he makes me smile.’”
Besides amusing passersby, the seasonally decorated moose is also a kind of navigational marker. Tomashek said a new family had moved in down the block and, “When she had a housewarming party, she said, ‘Oh, I just said, turn at the moose.’”
The 71-year-old retired teacher said she hopes to have the "Moose of Midland" up again by Valentine’s Day.
“He’s just out there to make you smile," Tomashek said.
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