Christmas Village Display

Over 100 village buildings, many have been made to resemble local attractions. Over 600 total pieces in front of murals depicting the local area.

Pieces for this Christmas village came from several sources beginning in 2020 with
a donation from Lon and Kathy Atchley of about half of the pieces you see here.
Other pieces have been purchased by the museum or individuals to add to the
collection. At this point there are approximately 110 buildings, 100 figure sets, and
400 individual pieces and animals. In its entirety, the display has over 600 pieces
not including the props (trees, fences, tunnels, etc.), an operating train and ski hill.

The murals on the walls and custom painted village pieces were done by local
artist, Joyce Leonard. She and her husband Elroy made the Bear Gulch lodge,
potato cellar, Charlie’s Café and Squirrel Dance Hall/Community Center buildings.

Kevin Garner made the Ashton train depot building.

Christmas at the Museum of the Henry’s Fork

In 2020 the part of the museum basement was remodeled to house a Christmas village display. Murals of local scenery were painted on the walls by Joyce Leonard. Lonnie and Kathy Atchley loaned a portion of their extensive Christmas village to the museum. Due to the display’s size and time to put it out each year it hadn’t been displayed for over 10 years.

In 2021, additional murals were added to the display by Joyce Leonard and a 5 ft by 8 ft train table was constructed by Wayne McCausey and Mary Adamic. Three additional display tables were added and the train table to depict the Ashton to Yellowstone Park area. Additional village pieces have been purchased for the village by the museum and individuals from area estate sales, on-line, etc. Two village houses were donated by local residents after visiting the village display.

In 2022, Joyce Leonard and Mary Adamic renovated two sections of the Christmas village. The Bear Gulch ski area table was totally redone by Joyce. A model of the Bear Gulch Ski Lodge was constructed by Joyce and ElRoy Leonard. The gondolas were replaced with lift chairs. The ski runs at Bear Gulch and nearby area are depicted on the 5 ft x 8 ft display.

The ocean display was removed from the Christmas village and the table space was used to expand the suburbs and farmland. The farm section of the village now has a potato cellar (constructed by Joyce and ElRoy), mini pivot irrigation system, numerous barns and farm tractors and figures.

An 18 inch x 5 foot table was built by Mary Adamic and used to expand the train table. The additional space was used to expand the Yellowstone National Park display which includes a geyser that puts out steam that drifts across the display. In addition, a fountain depicts the Mammoth Springs area was added to the Yellowstone display. And it wouldn’t be Yellowstone without Old Faithful and a herd of buffalo!

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