When Heather Kowalchuk began collecting tabletop Christmas ornaments, she had no idea it would lead to this.
Now her cheerful cumulation – hundreds of tiny homes, buildings, trees and townsfolk – forms a magnificent winter village at the Flin Flon Public Library.
“I love children and I love to see their little faces when they see something that to them is amazing,” says Kowalchuk.
Kowalchuk, a Creighton resident, recently donated her Christmas village to the library so that all children – not to mention adults – could enjoy it.
The village includes colourful homes, shops, churches, decorative fences and cobblestone roads. There is even a lighthouse, an igloo, a grain elevator, a ferris wheel, and a barn.
Villagers are seen traveling by horsedrawn carriage, standing on the sidewalk, and even crossing the street with bundles of wrapped gifts in hand.
A feature that never fails to induce chuckles is an outhouse occupied by none other than Santa Claus himself!
Most of the buildings are handpainted, a painstaking but enjoyable process for Kowalchuk.
“I tried to get everything done as realistic as I could,” she says.
Fifteen years ago, Kowalchuk started collecting and handpainting a few tabletop ornaments.
“From there it just sort of snowballed,” says the retired nurse’s aide.
Friends, family and neighbours began giving Kowalchuk things to add to her growing village.
“Gradually anybody that came and saw it thought I should have more,” she says.
Kowalchuk accumulated enough items that her village took up two four-by-eight sheets of plywood in her apartment.
“For two months I had no use of my living room,” she says. “It didn’t exist – it was all under the plywood.”
When Kowalchuk moved to Creighton’s Heritage Manor a few years back, she would set up her village in the common room each December – earning countless rave reviews.
Classes of awestruck students from nearby Creighton Community School even came by to check out the display, much to Kowalchuk’s enjoyment.
But as the years went on, she found it increasingly difficult to set up and take down the display.
So this year she donated everything to the library, which dutifully set up the village. It will be on display throughout the season.
“I’m pleased that it’s got a home here,” says Kowalchuk.
Townsfolk take a horsedrawn carriage ride through the streets of the village donated to the library by Heather Kowalchuk (inset).
PHOTOS BY JONATHON NAYLOR
