Winter wonderland

Sherbrooke Village has been transformed into an old-fashioned Christmas community

With a Santa hat slightly tilted to one side and what could only be described as a jolly smile, Stephen Flemming is one guy filled with the Christmas spirit.

And it’s easy to tell why as he leans against an old wooden fence at the edge of one of the old properties in the historic Sherbrooke Village.

Flemming, the executive director of the village, and a team of more than 122 volunteers and 15 fulltime workers, have created their own Victorian winter wonderland. And now this piece of Nova Scotia mid-1800s history has come to life as visitors tour its streets and properties as party its holiday events.

“Sherbrooke Village is an amazing place,” says Flemming.

And so is its surrounding community, he adds.

Volunteers come from the region around the historic site, arriving during the day and working into the evenings, to decorate the community. He estimates it at about 7,200 volunteer hours.

But that’s not the only numbers he records.

There are 60,000 lights covering the 25 properties, 20 of which will be opened for the public to view.

The three streets that make up the village are lined with four kilometres of garland and 450 bows.

And then there is probably the best number for Flemming – 11,000 – the number of visitors who visited the village last year. This season, he is hoping to see that number grow.

The village began making this transformation as an effort to extend the visitor season into what has been traditionally the off months. Now though, there is more of a Christmas spirit to the endeavour.

They do it for “the smiles, joy in people’s faces, and the many comments people give us about how much they enjoy the event, and how much it puts them in the Christmas spirit. We do it for them,” says Flemming.

This season the village will be offering its lantern tours and is open for visitors Dec. 2-3.

Peeking through some of the dimly lit windows, visitors will get the sense they have stepped back in time to the mid-1800s.

Stephen Flemming, executive director of the historic village, says workers and volunteers began the holiday conversion six weeks ago. He estimated it has taken about 7,200 hours for the full transformation to winter wonderland.