A model for cheer

For Fred Aker, a nativity set and train circling the tree wasn’t enough this Christmas.

Instead, he displayed a handcrafted, two-foot tall Christmas-decorated town in his garage for all of the community to see, channeling an American holiday tradition straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

It’s a window in time, taking visitors back to Aker’s childhood town of Youngstown, Ohio. Take a walk down the 46-foot-long street and classic shops such as Buster Brown Shoes are open once more, selling fluorescent Barbie heels. Rexall Drug Store offers the town’s 36 citizens medication. And T.W. Woodworth’s remains “Akersville’s” one-stop-shop for housewares, such as the dime-sized plates in the shop window.

“The joy for me is seeing the look on people’s faces as they remember the shops and say ‘I remember that’ or ‘that reminds me of…’” Aker said. “I want it to be able to bring memories.”

Aker bought some of the miniature decorations in his village, but the majority are as handmade as the shops they decorate. His wife, Lois, sewed the curtains that hang from every second-story window. His daughter, Jennifer, created miniature cupcakes for the bakery by cutting and filling in plastic screw caps with colored goop resembling frosting. Even the books lining the bookshelves have legible printed titles such as “The Great Gatsby”, “The Catcher in The Rye” and “Gone with the Wind”.

The village’s most detailed building is also the largest crowd pleaser. The two-story art deco movie theater, which proudly sits in the town’s center, is decorated by gold-framed movie posters for old favorites such as “Casablanca” and “Rebel without a Cause”. Its marquee announces that “A Christmas Story” is playing and one peak in the window reveals Ralphie in pursuit of that Red Ryder BB gun on a pint-sized screen.

One visitor to the village grabs the shoulder of the person next to him, pulling them to the theater’s window shouting “That’s insane! The movie’s really playing in there.”

As a cabinetmaker by profession, Aker crafted all the buildings and other miniature items like the diner’s doorknob stools from hardwood and plywood scraps leftover from jobs. He began constructing his miniature holiday village in February. After spending 1,198 hours and $3,000, he stepped back from his masterpiece with a sigh of relief.

“I wasn’t planning on having it done by this Christmas, but once I got going, I couldn’t stop, and I decided I wanted it done by Thanksgiving weekend,” Aker said.

Neighbors in Aker’s Eastwood community are happy to enjoy it this Christmas and have been eagerly visiting his finished village after watching — and hearing — him crafting it for 32 hours a week for close to 10 months.

“We came after getting an e-mail from someone in the neighborhood,” Eastwood resident Brenda Bartelt said, lifting her son Mason up to peer into the toy shop window. “It’s amazing how elaborate it is. So much time and work went into making it.

“It was very generous of him to make this for the community to enjoy.”

Akersville opens for viewing at around 6 p.m. every day until the first week of January and it’s free. Aker is normally on hand to answer questions and hand out equally miniature candy canes to children.

He plans to add another layer to his village next year by building Santa’s workshop in the space below the village.

Aker crafted a similar miniature village 20 years ago, but that one sat on his lawn. After eight years, the weather warped his village and he vowed to build a better one the weather couldn’t touch. His second attempt resulted in a larger and more elaborate model.

Aker’s first model didn’t have any of the detail this one has, such as the cotton ball clouds pulled across the sky above the village or the working clock on the jukebox face in Mel’s Family Diner.

“I wanted to make this village detailed enough that you could come through 10 times and see something different, something you didn’t notice before,” Aker said.

Check out Aker’s creation at his home located at 13545 Guildhall Circle, Orlando.