BY CARMEN SIERING

The address may be 530 S. Jordan Ave., but most people identify the home of Dale and Sharon Vincz Andrews as the House with the Hats. Each winter, brightly colored caps top the seven limestone posts in the front yard at the corner of South Jordan Avenue and East 2nd Street.

“People love them. If we’re in the yard, people stop and talk to us about them,” Sharon says. “They tell us they know it’s winter when the hats come out.”

After a 1997 addition to their house left seven limestone posts unused, the Andrewses decided to create their own stone ring reminiscent of Stonehenge, a place they had recently visited on a trip to England. That winter, Sharon added the hats.

She started with hand-knit caps her mother had made for their son, Jason, when he was a child, but when those were stolen, Sharon began collecting hats with less sentimental value. Almost all of the hats are purchased at Opportunity House, a nonprofit resale store run by Monroe County United Ministries.

Over the years, hats have mysteriously appeared on the Andrews doorstep, and some have disappeared, as well, though neighbors keep an eye out for thieves. But Sharon’s attitude is that if someone takes a hat, they must need one. “And for a few dollars a year, it gives the neighborhood something fun to look at,” she says.