Bay Area brewery's Christmas Village is a tradition that continues to grow

3 Daughters Brewing winter wonderland

FOX 13 Photojournalist Barry Wong highlights 3 Daughters Brewing company as they host their annual winter wonderland, comprising six trains and around 450 small village pieces that take up 11 tables in the brewery's tasting room.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A Winter Wonderland takes center stage at 3 Daughters Brewing every year.

Six trains and around 450 small village pieces take up 11 tables in the tasting room. Bruce Harting, father to the brewery’s founder, is the "keeper of the Christmas Village."

"What we're looking at is a collection over the years of probably what everybody has done. They started with one or two or three pieces, and this Christmas Village grew and grew and grew," Harting said. "Then, my son started one. My daughter started one. When we got the brewery, my son says ‘Dad, we got to have the village here,’ and then it's grown just phenomenally."

3 Daughters Brewing in St. Petersburg is home to a Christmas Village that keeps growing every year.

The top layer features buildings and scenes tied to the North Pole. The bottom layer is a 1920-1940s village. There’s also a baseball field and ski area. A mountain scene is new in 2024, the 12th year of the wonderland.

The Christmas Village features multiple layers and six trains.

"If you want to title this, you could title it ‘I remember’. You know, I remember when mom moved the North Pole piece, and we all talked about it, and it was just so exciting. It's part of Christmas, and that's what we hope to bring back," Harting said.

The village’s keeper loves the reaction the wonderland creates. Children watch the trains whiz around the layout. Adults want to experience it all.

A child watches the trains move along the tracks in the Christmas Village.

"Once somebody comes in, they put their phones down. They stop and they actually watch, especially the animated pieces," Harting said.

The display takes two months to set up. Once November hits, each shrink-wrapped table is fork-lifted from storage in the back of the brewery. Challenges include paint touch ups, repairing trains and cleaning up hair. The display remains out until mid-January.

Scenes from a 1920-1940s village help make up the Christmas Village.

"Just seeing the people smile, you know what's going through their mind. You know it. They're now reverting back to their childhood, and they're just sitting around the tree with mom and dad and sister, brother, whatever it may be, and that's what makes it go," Harting said.

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