Baltimore man makes giant holiday wreaths out of hubcaps

By Breana Ross

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    BALTIMORE, Maryland (WBAL) — Inside Barnaby Wickham’s garage lies one of his most prized collections.

“This is my very first metal hubcap,” said Wickham.

Wickham has been collecting hubcaps on his bike rides around the city for the past year.

“I noticed there are these hubcaps all over the place, on sidewalks, medians, actually in the street, so I started to collect them just because they are sort of pretty,” said Wickham. “I started bringing them home and putting them in the garage, in the basement, and before I knew it, I had a lot of them, and I said to my wife Kate, ‘I’ve got to do something with these,’ and eventually we came up with the idea of a wreath, and we had so many that we made two wreaths, one here and one at my parents’ house in Baltimore County.”

The wreaths are giant.

“The one in Baltimore County is about 17 feet wide, and the one here is 12 feet wide,” said Wickham.

The Baltimore County wreath is made up of 219 hubcaps. The one at Wickham’s house has 108 hubcaps. The big wreaths are making a bigger impact than Wickham ever imagined.

“This whole thing started as a lark, and it was like a solitary thing,” said Wickham. “I was going around cycling by myself and then it sort of built into this bigger thing where people have gotten involved and excited about it. The neighbors come by and talk to us more than they normally would about how excited they are. Friends have driven from New Jersey to see it … I have all of these people who are texting me, and they’re like, ‘I’ve seen this hubcap on this street over in East Baltimore. You should come get it,’ and I’ll go.”

Wickham keeps track of each hubcap he finds using his ‘Hubcaps in the Wild’ list.

“These are different streets that I’ve found hubcaps on, or people have told me hubcaps are on these streets. The ones that are crossed off are the ones I’ve picked up already.”

As Wickham continues collecting hubcaps, he hopes his hubcap holiday wreaths give people something to smile about.

“I am a big Christmas person,” said Wickham. “I really believe that Jesus came into the world at Christmas, so I want people to experience that same joy and wonders that I feel at Christmas, and I hope these wreaths do that for them.”

Wickham says he’s not quite sure where he will store his wreaths after the holidays. He’s still looking for a permanent home for them.

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