South Lake showed up big Saturday night as the Citrus Tower hosted Wheatly Realty’s annual Baby DJ toy that has become one of Clermont’s most heartwarming holiday events.

Families lined up with toys in hand, earning a free ride to the top of the tower before gathering on the lawn for food trucks, photos, a caricature artist and face painting by Jen Abston and her crew, Dream Catcher Horse Ranch’s petting zoo and performances from a Lake County community choir. Once dark, radio host Brian Grimes of XL 106.7’s “Johnny’s House” stepped in to flip the switch on Jay Peterson’s dazzling light show complete with snow and glowing arches kids excitedly ran through on repeat.

“We can’t really do it without the help of the community,” Brian says. “We tell everybody about it, but if nobody steps up to help out, then it’s really just us saying things”

One person who stepped up with that community spirit is Matt Wheatley, owner of Wheatley Realty Group, who launched this particular event six years ago. 

“It’s great when people like Matt and his group get together to encourage communities to come out and help the cause,” Brian says. 

Matt says he’s listened to the show since childhood.

“I heard them talking about Baby DJ every Christmas season and one year I said, ‘My office can do that,” Matt says.  

Matt says the first year, he showed up with 60 toys but more than that, what he saw moved him. 

“Johnny Magic was there personally, and I was so impressed I told him, ‘Man, I wish I could do more.’”

Matt says Johnny told him people don’t invite him out to Lake County that much and that’s when Matt decided he would. He’s been sponsoring a Baby DJ fundraiser and toy drive ever since and each year, his contribution has grown considerably.

This year, Matt’s annual Baby DJ golf tournament raised $15K, all spent on toys during a massive shopping day. He also donated $2.5K of his own money and longtime supporter Mike Edmonson of State Farm added $4.5K, pushing their contribution to more than $22K in toys before community donations even rolled in.

And though Matt champions Baby DJ, he stresses that generosity in any direction matters.

“Even if it’s not this particular organization, there’s Charity Across South Lake, Toys for Tots and others, so either way, we’re reaching a whole bunch of people that need help and that’s what matters,” he says.

For families like Dyanne Espinosa, the event means even more than free tower passes.

“Oh, I love it,” she says. “We live like 10 minutes away from here, so this is a common spot for us to hang out. This is the first time we donate for Baby DJ, but it’s a great idea and I’m so happy to see the community coming together.”

Baby DJ, now 33 years strong, received around 2,000 letters from families this season and expects to help about 5,000 children across Central Florida. Thanks to the Citrus Tower drive, many of the toys collected here will stay right in Lake County.

“We made the deal that we’d make sure these families over on this side of town get helped,” Brian said.

Donations are accepted through Dec. 19 at participating drop-off sites listed at BabyDJ.org.

Editor’s note: When my three kids were young, we went through a rough patch financially and for two years in a row, I wrote a letter to Baby DJ and they helped me both times. I can never thank Johnny Magic, Brian and Sondra Rae enough for their sincerity and holiday spirit. I even remember clearly when Rae called me on the phone to tell me the news. I was so overwhelmed, I could only say thank you and just cried. She was so sweet and real and because of them, my kids woke up to gifts under the tree. Since then, I have always given back by donating to the cause. It was an honor to cover this story and see that so many local families will once again benefit from this program and others. 

Photos by Roxanne Brown