Village comes to life at Christmas

David and June Edwards are overloaded with Christmas spirit.

Each season the couple invites people to their backyard to visit a village of wonders in miniature, carefully and lovingly displayed in a large shed.

It's a village that is getting so big there are plans in the works to possibly expand it in time for next year.

The colorful, lighted village has s a working streetcar, train, a circus complete with rides, town hall, police station, drive-in theater, roller rink, barns, churches, houses of all types, merry-go-round, theaters and even a Bethlehem village. An Amish farm has its own school house and barn-raising that David built himself.

But that's only a sampling of what is on display at the Edwards' home on Robinsonville Road near Lewes.

Each December they host two weekends of parties at the village and collect food for Jusst Sooup Ministry. And this year because the demand to see the village has been so high, they will open it from 3 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 26.

This year, David and his son added a sidewalk as an entrance to the shed for easier access for wheelchairs and visitors from senior centers and nursing homes.

Village has a humble beginning

The village started out with four lighted houses displayed on a shelf in the Edwards' living room. But it grew so large, they decided to move it. Over the past 24 years they have collected more than 200 buildings with thousands upon thousands of accessory pieces.

David has wired the shed so that every light and moving piece comes on with the flick of one switch.

The story hidden in the village is that the Edwards weave their family story into the layout. One of their sons was assigned to the Blue Angels, so there an airstrip with Blue Angels jets parked on it. Another flies helicopters. One of their daughters is stationed in South Korea with her husband, so they added a Korean village scene.

There's a Cracker Barrel building, one of the Edwards' favorite restaurants. Churches honor a son who is a youth pastor. Ace Hardware, an Avon Lady and Lowe's represent companies their daughters have worked for.

A circus filled with clowns depicts David's other pastime, as a Shriner clown.

When the collection began in 1991, the Edwards added a piece or two each year. Then friends and family started giving them pieces, and before long it became a quest. The village eventually took up the bookshelves in the living room and more shelves were added.

When the village outgrew the living room, it was moved to a screened porch. The couple would painstakingly set up the village and then repack it each year.

While it was fun to see the village come to life each year, it wasn't as much fun to take it down and pack it in nearly 20 plastic tubs. That's when David came up with the idea of putting his village in a shed.

The Edwards hide a Santa and his sleigh piece within the village. The person who finds it is then permitted to hide it again. People in the know search for Santa with flashlights to find the elusive old elf. David says he has handed out 40 handmade buttons to those who have been able to find Santa.

David, who has lived along Robinsonville Road most of his life, has a tax business. June, who is from the Millsboro area, is a seamstress who works out of their home.

But each December, the Edwards play host to visitors who get a rare chance to see a Christmas village come to life.