Mt. Tom's Enchanted Village (the early years).

Inspired by a recent trip to the giant Yankee Candle factory store (If you've never been there, it's more like a Disney attraction with interesting odors than a factory outlet), I've decided to plot, purchase, and develop my own little enchanted village in the front window of my shop. This is what we've got so far. A soft serve joint (I know I don't have soft serve but it's still a cool piece. Many thanks to Bre for that.). And on my day off this week, I discovered a great sale at A.C. Moore, so I'm already up to three buildings, a few townsfolk, and an ice cream truck. The other new buildings on the mini-block are a gelateria and a candy store. Go figure.

The master plan is to build an entire city block on a big piece of plywood, fully equipping it with streets, hills, trees, snow, and all the other fixin's. I think it's going to be cool, but it may take a few years, so for this the groundbreaking year, it's a just humble little village of all things Mt. Tom-like.

If others on Cottage Street jump in on the idea, perhaps we may someday rival the Macy's windows in NYC. Ok, probably not, but it would be very cool if the windows of downtown Easthampton eventually became a local holiday destination like Bright Lights in Springfield. Just like anything in life, you gotta start somewhere.