CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Ahead of Travis Kelce’s appearance in the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs three years ago, there was an effort in Cleveland Heights to light up the city’s porches in red. But what do you do when you want to celebrate both Travis and Jason, with one brother on each team, the Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles?
Most people only have one light bulb on their porch and even if they had two, to do red and green would just look like your Christmas lights were still up.
That’s when the idea surfaced.
"You know what? How about Heights, how about yellow, let's like unify the city," said Dawn Quintana, who along with her husband, Alex, and high school Athletic Director Joe D'Amato, decided to celebrate the Kelce's by celebrating the school's colors.
"We thought everybody can probably grab a bug light," she said. "We just kind of thought it would be perfect, it's Height's colors and it's unifying."
A check online of the Cleveland Heights Home Depot showed they had only a handful in stock. Luckily Dawn and Alex, who are close friends of the Kelce family, were the one's behind the red light push three years ago so they put in a big order with a light bulb company in Dallas.
"The owner of the company called and he was like, 'You know I just want to make sure you ordered a thousand light bulbs like is that correct?' And I said 'Yes,'" she said.
They hope to have them by Monday so they can distribute them free of charge so people can "light up the heights." Alex Quintana reached out to seven local businesses, almost all Heights graduates, that will help distribute them when they come in.
In addition to the Quintana's own Barber & Dream Spa, they include The Wine Spot, Washington & lee Service, The Tavern Company, The Social Room, Parnell's Pub, Luna Bakery Cafe and The Grog Shop/B Side.
"What we wanted to do was be able to share some of the excitement that the city is feeling right now," said Alex. "It feels like it's even warmer in Cleveland right now."
The owner of the Grog Shop and B Side was an immediate yes to help salute the Kelces.
“They are just so supportive of the Heights which is fantastic," said Kathy Blackman who is also the mother of two Heights students. She loves the pride the Kelce brothers bring to the school and the joy in turn to it's students.
“They always come back and they show up at practices and they’re supportive of everything that we do so its cool to be able to give back a little to them," she said.
While they wait for the bulbs to come Alex encourages those in the Heights to find their own yellow bulb or red or green for that matter.
"Regardless of whether or not you got a yellow and if you want to do a Philly, you got a green, you want a red you know, if they're Christmas colors it doesn't make a difference light it up. Let us be seen from space let Cleveland Heights and Phoenix show and star and shine."
