Nostalgic Christmas village at 3 Daughters is 40+ years in the making

ST. PETE. Fla. — Inside of 3 Daughters Brewing by downtown St. Pete sits a tiny city filled with Christmas memories.

It started tiny.

Now, the village of small holiday figurines sits upon 18 tables and spans down two sides of the brewery.

It’s the work of owner Mike Harting’s dad, Bruce.

Bruce says the Christmas village used to be inside his home. It started in the early 1980s when his mom brought the very first piece home from her job at the Hallmark store. The first piece is one that Bruce calls ’Scrooge’s House’ and is from the original Department 56 North Pole collection.  It used to have a revolving function where you could see the small figurines dancing in the window. While it doesn’t turn anymore, it has its spot front and center.

When Mike and his wife opened 3 Daughters Brewing in 2013, the family decided the brewery would be the perfect spot for the Christmas village.

Quickly, Bruce says, it caught on. They started expanding, and as the village grew more and more people visited the brewery hoping to donate their family’s pieces.

Bruce says every season they have people who walk through the door with a piece from their late parent or grandparents collection that they want to donate. Bruce marks those special pieces with an ‘X’ and makes sure they get put out every year.

“When we rebuild, we look at the bottom of the piece and if they’re special marked they go back in,” he explained.

The Christmas village has turned into a patchwork of memories from families throughout the community.

“It just caught on because all of us are kids at heart,” he said.

One of Bruce’s favorite spots is a series of gondolas in the corner. It reminds him of his time in the U.S. Army, when he and his wife were living in Europe. While they were there, they would ride the gondolas together. There’s one section that’s lower, so small children can see. There’s trains, arenas, and full-blown winter scenes. A newer section, is inspired by the Ringling Brother’s circus.

This year, the village has roughly 400 houses, 500 people, and 80 animated pieces. There’s also a large, red button that powers some of the animated pieces that guests can push. It’s all strung together to one power switch, so the staff can easily turn it off when closing up at the end of the night.

Bruce says it takes about 4 weeks to put the village up each year. It will be on display until January 10.

Photojournalist Anthony Sande contributed to this report.