A special treat awaits anyone willing to make the short drive to Youbou this December.
Christmas village at Cassy’s
The creation of Donna and Dennis Jones’s Christmas village began about 28 years ago when Donna’s parents sent her a small village for her birthday. There were two small houses and a church with people and trees.
The next Christmas Dennis gave her a replica of Charles Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop.
From there, the collection began to grow.
Originally the idea was to stick to a late 1900s theme, but over time these pieces became more difficult to find, and some more modern pieces, such as the ski village were added.
To this day, there are no motorized vehicles or modern conveniences such as department stores and gas stations in the collection.
The Jones’s collection currently consists of about 150 buildings with a multitude of figurines and accessories.
There are residential neighbourhoods, business districts, a playground area, wilderness areas, ocean front, and winter recreation areas.
Donna says the couple also has several vintage pieces, but they have left them at home this time for safety. One of her favourite things in the display is a little train set. It sits on a table almost by itself, with a merry-go-round in the centre.
Dennis laughed as he showed off a German inn, saying that he allowed Donna to purchase one item when they were in Germany, but she could have easily bought the shop’s contents.
Over the past several years the collection has been displayed in several rooms at the Jones’s house with viewing by invitation and proceeds to the food bank. This year, the collection has moved to Cassy’s Coffee House so that it can be displayed for the public at large. Cassy has added several pieces of her own to the display this year.
Along with Cassy and her husband, Pat, who helped set up the lights, Richard and Lucy Vermiere also volunteered hours of time with set up.
