Snow may not be falling in New Boston, but at the Little Country Greenhouse the trees are trimmed and the halls have been decked to transform it into a Winter Wonderland.
From a candyland Whoville to an island Christmas to Santa’s workshop, Bruce Pardue, head elf at the greenhouse, has created a little something for everyone.
A variety of music is also played to invoke different feelings of the season.
“It all goes in together in creating a whole different perspective of Christmas,” Pardue said.
The experience is free to the public.
For the second year, the Walk in the Wild has been transformed into a Hallmark Christmas walk under the stars.
“It is inspired by a picture that I saw on a Hallmark Christmas card … we brought the night into the day,” Pardue said.
New this year is a lifesized nativity scene outside the market.
The nativity is something that Pardue said he has been wanting to include for years but had yet to find the perfect setup.
It was by chance he located a handpainted one from a church in Pennsylvania.
Pardue is always looking for more to add year after year to expand and change his scenes.
Candyland, the Hallmark Christmas, Santa’s village and the nativity scene will be recurring, but everything else is always changing.
There are several places for families to take photos on their own or with their favorite photographer.
“It’s all about Christmas and the spirit of Christmas and having a little fun. And not costing anything to do it,” Pardue said.
This is the sixth year for Christmas at the greenhouse.
The Christmas experience comes on the heels of the Haunted Greenhouse that they set up at Halloween. After Christmas, Pardue will get to work on setting up for Spring.
“We do a little something for all seasons … But Christmas is our way of giving back to our customers and saying ‘Thank you,’” he added.
Pardue said he creates the experiences to bring visitors into New Boston.
“It’s all part of agritourism. People come here … they don’t have to buy anything. But they go into the town and they spend money elsewhere,” he added.
Santa has already made his way to the greenhouse to visit with kids young and old and has two more Saturday visits scheduled before he makes his way back to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas Eve night.
He will make his return December 14 and 21 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
“I always tell people that if they ever stop believing in Santa Clause, you’re just getting underwear for Christmas,” Pardue laughed.
