Northport Admires the View at Annual Leg Lamp Lighting Ceremony

Hundreds gathered together to celebrate Northport’s unique holiday tradition of watching a leg lamp illuminate out of Northport Hardware Company’s front window Saturday night.

The leg lamp, which serves as a nod to the 1983 holiday classic, “A Christmas Story,” is one of the most well-known movie props of all time.

The lamp lighting ceremony became a Northport tradition in 2005 when Billy and Jimmy Reichert, owners of Northport Hardware, discovered the lamp while cleaning out the store’s basement in 2005. They rustled up a few patrons to watch an impromptu lighting ceremony, and the Northport tradition was born.

The fun continued this year at 7 p.m. when Northport’s own “Ralphie” flipped the switch. All went dark before the famous leg lamp’s “soft glow of electric sex” gleamed out the window and into the street.

The crowd cheered, admired the view and lined up to take a picture with the famous leg lamp.

It even started snowing immediately following the lamp lighting thanks to a snow machine on the roof.

The story behind the leg lamp:

In the film “A Christmas Story,” Mr. Parker opens a massive package and jumps with joy to find a lamp in the shape of a woman’s leg. As seen in the movie clip added below, Mr. Parker blows a fuse attempting to turn on the womanly-shaped object. ”It’s indescribably beautiful,” Mr. Parker exclaimed as the lamp lit up his living room. “It reminds me of the Fourth of July.”

“Turn off all the lights. I want to see what it looks like from the street.”