After years of struggling, Kringle’s open again
Antioch Christmas display ready for the holidays
In a pandemic when people are spending less and repurposing more, Kringle’s Christmas Village is a free holiday entertainment option inAntioch.
Kringle’s Christmas Village is itself a rescue, much like families adopt rescue pets at animal shelters.
More than two decades after the original tourist attraction debuted in Zion, what’s left of the holiday display is shepherded by the Antioch Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re honored to have Kringle’s Christmas Village. We think it’s the highlight of Lake County,” Barbara Porch ofAntioch, the chamber executive director, said. “We’re so far north in Lake County that people tend to forget about Antioch, yetwe work year-round to make sure we have attractions to bring foot traffic to our community.”
At 510 Orchard St., down fromthe PigglyWiggly, is an indoor showroom housing more than 50 shadowboxes and displays which twinkle under the rented high ceilings of former storefront retail space.
“It’s just so special, and brings out the magic of Christmas,” said Peggy Ogle of Waukegan, who visited with her husband Red and their grandchildren, theKofoed siblings of Lake Villa, Braxton, 1, Barrett, 2, and Bryson, 4. “More people need to come and know about it.”
In 1997, a group of Zion residents took a bus to East Peoria to view that city’s holiday attraction, hoping to launch something similar in Zion.
“I was involved from the beginning,” said Dee Stratmoen Kuzmickus of Winthrop Harbor, formerly of Zion for 44 years and a current Zion Historical Society boardmember.
“There were a lot of
people volunteering,” she said. “I’m the only one that actually stuck to this to the very bitter end, and made sure that these boxes found a new home.”
In 1998, Kringle’s Kingdom opened at Zion’s Port Shiloh Pool featuring several shadow boxes sponsored by local families, businesses and community groups.
“It was so magnificent,” Kuzmickus recalled.
Fresh trees lined pathways, “and over the years, it just accumulated with more displays, bigger displays, more trees,” she said. “Itwas better than anything that you could find at Marshall Field’s on State Street.”
Kringle’s Kingdom ended nearly a decade ago.
“The last time that we had Kringle’s, there were over 400 lit trees,”
Kuzmickus said. “The city just ran out ofmoney, itwas pretty sad. People were losing jobs. You couldn’t justify keeping a display. It was the death of this, and we either had to rescue it or throw it away.”
The collection was set to besold for$5,000toanIowa municipality, but local residents drummed up money, “to keep it here in Zion,” she said.
After opening for one year in interior first-floor space of a vintage Zion factory, the display was moved upstairs. Outdated elevator access prevented it from safely opening to the public.
“The stuff sat up there in the warehouse for years until the owner finally said, ‘You know, I can’t keep storing this. You’re going to have to find a new home, or
it’s going to go in the Dumpster.’”
In 2016, Kuzmickus and her younger sister Alene Backis of Beach Park wrote letters to local communities in a last-ditch rescue effort.
“Thank God Antioch stepped up to the plate and said, ‘Yes, we’ll take it.’” Kuzmickus said. “In the very end, the stuff that Antioch didn’t take had to be destroyed and thrown in Dumpsters, and I had to witness all of this destruction. Iwas sick to death, and Iwanted to throwup.”
“I think we had four Dumpster loads of stuff,” she recalled.
But some leftovers made it to Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, for holiday use in village parks.
In 2017, the display opened outdoors in Antioch under a big-top tent across
from Village Hall on Main Street.
“It’s so clever,” shadow box sponsor and Antioch chamber ambassador Kris Poplawski of Lindenhurst said. “It’s just amazing to me, the love and the attention to detail. It’s a jewel for all of Lake County.”
The Orchard Street showroom opened in 2018, andKuzmickus stayed on as a consulting volunteer.
“I love this project,” she said. “It’s a passion of mine.”
Sponsorships and donations help support Kringle’s Christmas Village. COVID-19 protocols include a cleaning company spraying three times per week.
“Masks are required and to beworn properly, and our indoor Kringle showroom is large enough for people to easily social distance,” Porch
said.
Life-sized displays which were broken apart and tossed in Zion were largely made by Lorna Yates of Zion, presently vice-president of the Zion Historical Society. Some of her pieces, including an oversized dollhouse, remain in Antioch.
“We thoroughly loved it. We enjoyed participating in that, but it overwhelmed anyone else who wanted to take it on,” Yates said with a laugh. “It is a jewel in Lake County. It’s a winter wonderland, and it brings a smile to everyone’s face.”
The Antioch chamber’s indoor Kringle’s Christmas Village isopendaily through New Year’s Day with free admission from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., courtesy of Raymond Chevrolet-KIA with a new communitywallmural project honoring local heroes.