Christmasville, the annual display of Christmas villages and trees put together by Kay and Paul Smith, is set to conclude on Christmas Eve in its Smackover location this year.
The display, which opened on Thanksgiving Day, has opened each Friday and Saturday this month. Kay Smith said they plan to open on Christmas Eve from 1 to 5 p.m. before wrapping up for the year.
In this sixth iteration of the display, the Smiths worked with a smaller space than usual in a somewhat less trafficked area than they have previously.
“It’s a bit slower than usual but we’ve had several hundred come through this year… We’ve had lots of people come from El Dorado,” Kay Smith said.
They have even managed to receive, according to Kay Smith, compliments due to the smaller space.
The heavily detailed Christmas villages are busy with the activities of the many miniatures who live in them and the clock towers, trains, houses and bodies of water than fill them, and Paul Smith said some attendees have made several trips through the displays and still fail to catch every small detail.
Paul Smith carves and layers Styrofoam to create platforms, lakes, walls and fences to further the sense of realism when looking at the villages. Each year, according to Smith, he finds new things to add or new ways to add new dynamics to the displays.
Even parts of a display as seemingly simple as a sloping road require, as explained by Smith, precise and creative construction to create the effect at hand.
Kay Smith has, as she explained in a previous News-Times story, been “collecting Christmas houses for over 40 years” and can, along with her husband, offer a detailed tour of the many trees and villages that populate Christmasville.
In addition to displays such as Christmas Carnival, a seaside village and the many themed Christmas trees, the Smiths also offer a children’s room with interactive toys and displays.
Christmasville is free of charge and located at 201 E. 7th St. in Smackover.