YANKTON, S.D. — For residents here, the holidays don't officially start until they pay a visit to Services Center Federal Credit Union.
For over 10 years Services Center FCU CEO David J. Wright and his wife Ida have been bringing Christmas to life in the Yankton branch.
What started out as just a decorated tree and a train running around the base has expanded to a miniature winter wonderland that is some 20 feet long and nine feet wide. There are about 120 buildings with twinkling lights, a train, trolley and countless "people" enjoying a ski lift, shopping, heading to restaurants or participating in a parade. In addition, Wright says, the Christmas town boasts the only manger scene in front of a courthouse.
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"We've become Yankton, South Dakota's version of the Macy's window," said Wright. "We're in a small town of about 15,000 people and people of all ages come every year to see what we've added or changed. They stand for hours just staring at it."
It takes Wright and his wife, who have worked together at the credit union for some 31 years, about 80 hours to set up the town.
"We start right after Thanksgiving and by Thursday of that following week we have to take a break and finish it by the next weekend," said Wright. "It is truly a labor of love but while you're doing it you think no way can we do this next year, then you finally finish, the people come and you see the joy it brings during the holiday season that by next November you are pumped up and ready to do it all over again."
A true Christmas season fanatic, Wright says the display items have been collected from all over and include several "finds"–from a castle in Norway to a shop in Chicago each piece has its story and the animated display includes trains and trolleys that move throughout the town.
"It has been a lot of fun and my wife and I really love Christmas. My birthday is December 20th, we were married the 21st and my wife's birthday is the 31st so December has always been a month we get lots of gifts," said Wright. "My wife is crazy about Santa stuff. Me, I like the snow villages and trains so over the years we had to make rules for our kids–one would buy us the main street village sets, the other the trains etc."
While there is no specific date of dismantling the display, Wright says weather is the deciding factor since most of the buildings are not stored away in boxes but rather kept in his house on about 120 feet of shelving. It takes over six trips to get everything home.
"We keep it interesting and change things all the time," said Wright. "A grandmother came in the other day saying she had to bring her teenage grandsons to see it and I thought they wouldn't be all that interested but they were so excited pointing out the Starbucks, McDonald's, Harley Davidson shop, etc. It really is something that people come back to enjoy year after year." –[email protected]
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