Tiny Tinsel Town returns to Museum of Industry
STELLARTON, N.S. — If you want to see where Santa Claus gets his beard trimmed, the Museum of industry is the place to be.
Holidays at the Museum kicks off Dec. 7 and for the second straight year museum-goers will have the chance to take in an astounding display.
“There are so many special moments for people when they come to see this,” said Denise Taylor, marketing and services officer at the museum.
She was talking about Tiny Tinsel Town, a miniature village set up in a space that shows off a collection of Dept. 56 houses, figures and trees that has been 40 years in the making.
The collection belongs to Francis Crocket, Barb Retter and Patrick Mullally. Together, with help from museum staff, they are showing off this collection of more than 1,000 figures, 200 houses and more than 3,000 trees.
Museum staff have built a ski hill for tiny snowboarders, skiers and even an Olympic athlete to enjoy. At the top, a working gondola whizzes between the snow-capped peaks and over a lodge that blinks welcoming little Christmas lights.
It takes about a week for every piece to be set carefully into place, not to mention a lot of batteries to run the four electric trains that wind their way through the villages, including a new addition to the museum, Whoville.
Thankfully there are also villages that don’t have a Grinch in the 2,500-square-foot room.
This year people can also take in Christmas in the City, a Dickensian village from across the pond and, of course, The North Pole.
“There’s always something new to see,” said Taylor.