A HANDCRAFTED WONDERLAND
From afar, the cases could be mistaken for a work project on the lawn, but come evening and the lights come on, 970 Mathews means Christmas spirit abounds with hand-crafted exhibits on display. This is not to say that the displays on Pierce Hutler's lawn are anything but magical, but unlike other holiday displays, a close inspection is required to truly appreciate what's inside the cases.
Hutler doesn't mind visitors coming into his yard for a closer look.
One box contains a Christmas village with decorated buildings, a moving train, moving carnival rides, a village scene, and a ferris wheel. The other is Santa's workshop, with Santa at work, flanked by tool-wielding elves.
The two buildings date to 2020, but Hutler's been collecting Christmas items for decades. He got the bug when he was 12, when he decorated his parents' house on Burlingame and made the front page of the Chico Enterprise-Record. Now he's somewhat older, and a project manager for Northwest Lineman College in Oroville.
Asked what was the spark for the two buildings, he answered, “It was a wild hair. I just decided to do it.”
As a youth, Hutler was among the many who loved the East First Avenue extravaganza of Chico's “Mr. Christmas,” the late Don Cory. That iconic yard featured more than a dozen small buildings that
Cory constructed for everything from living room scenes and dolls, to elves and Santas galore. A pint-size train ran in and around the yard, and Cory was there dressed as Santa, handing out candy canes every night.
“I had never seen anything like (Cory's house). It was so cool to see these scenes in boxes, the moving train and everything that lit up.”
And it's not only Christmas that gives Hutler cheer. He's big on Halloween, evidenced by two medallions cemented to his yard pillars that say “Haunted Mansion.”
“I've always liked having a haunted house and the neighborhood kids like it too.”
The Christmas buildings live in a storage unit ten and a half months a year, but right before Thanksgiving, out they come and Hutler starts his work. Not only does it give him joy to piece together his yard “show,” but it reminds him of special times in his life — like the blow-mold Nativity scene, which was a gift from his