PALM COAST – One of the most well-known light shows in Palm Coast received a particularly famous visitor on Tuesday: famous rapper Vanilla Ice. The icon of 90’s culture stopped by Ho Ho Joe’s, a residence in Palm Coast’s B Section known for its extravagant holiday light displays.
The light show is put on year after year by Joe Marthey, a Palm Coast resident who clearly has an affinity for showmanship. His house is outfitted with hundreds of individual light fixtures, all flashing in coordination with holiday-themed music that can be heard by visitors through their cars’ FM radios. The lights often appear to be performing in perfect sync with the music.
Ho Ho Joe’s seems to be just the latest in an increasing number of Vanilla Ice sightings around Palm Coast. The musician is known to frequent Bronx House Pizza, which now has a signature dish named after him. He’s also been seen in photos with numerous local residents and contractors who’ve either bumped into him in public or conducted business with him. Palm Coast seems to be a new home for the rapper, who also goes by his real name Robert Van Winkle.
“And to think I planned to go to bed early tonight,” Marthey said on Facebook about the surprise visit. “Not now lol. That Vanilla Ice visit was fun 
. He got a huge kick out of seeing it and the fact that I have speakers in my palm trees.”
Just two days prior to appearing at Ho Ho Joe’s, Vanilla Ice performed at ex-President Donald Trump’s New Year’s Eve Party in Mar-a-Lago a few hours south. That event was attended by Trump himself, as well as an Elvis impersonator, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, according to attendees.
Denise Calderwood
January 5, 2024 at 12:53 am
This is pretty cool I would have enjoyed seeing it in person but your video of it was great! Keep posting….
TR
January 5, 2024 at 6:38 am
That must have been cool having him ring your doorbell to see your display. But this year the city did not have the light display contest so people couldn’t drive around to see the displays in the competition.
I have been putting up lights for the last 25 years here is palm coast and this year I topped out at just under 24k lights. I’m old school so maybe I have 100 LED lights, but the rest are incandescent lights. They don’t march to computer generated music but I do have a 7′ tall motorized Ferris wheel and an 8′ tall carousel also motorized which I built. I also am the only person so far in the entire area of Flagler county that has a 15′ tall dancing tube man Santa Claus.
Glad Joe got the visit.