Even the stodgiest Grinch wouldn’t be able to stifle holiday spirit upon entering Dawn’s Christmas Village at the Rotterdam Senior Center. An array of sights and sounds might leave one wondering where to start.
Matthew Macejka, though, will gladly lead visitors along their journeys, and switch on the train to chug around one of several miniature villages on display.
“When everything is playing you can’t really concentrate that much,” Macejka said with a laugh.
The collection of miniature village pieces, totaling 110 buildings, belonged to Macejka’s late daughter, Dawn. In honor of his daughter, he’s once again set up the showcase at the Senior Center.
“We used to have this set up at the house, but it got too big,” Macejka said. “Every time we went somewhere, we bought something new and we looked for things that she would like.”
Dawn Macejka Burnham passed away three ago at the age of 37 after a short battle with a rare cancer. The collection started 1994, Macejka said, with a St. Matthew’s Cathedral piece sitting on top of the television. Since then, the miniature collection has ballooned to a massive size.
Each year, family, friends and friends of friends would visit Dawn Macejka’s home in Rotterdam to view the display. The variety of pieces includes a Ferris wheel, Elvis’ Graceland Mansion with a pink Cadillac, a Goodyear blimp hovering above Yankee Stadium and a retro McDonalds.
“We just kept on buying, and she loved it,” Macejka said.
There is even an skating rink called “Rollerama” in the set, sharing its name with the roller rink down the street from the Senior Center. Macejka said he and his daughter just happened to find it. His favorite piece, though, is probably the bowling alley or the garage sale piece.
Two years ago, he setup the village for the first time, but the room he was offered at the Senior Center ended up being too small for everything. Last year, he decided to forgo the display. This year, with a larger room available, the show is up and running again.
Molly Collins, an employee at the Senior Center, said, “It really is a beautiful thing for adults to see, much less children.”
About nine people volunteered to help set up the display this year, as it normally requires around 28 hours to place all the pieces just so. All the pieces makes it hard to decide where to place everything, Macejka said.
As he gently hammered the drive-in piece to get the “video” screen to work, he said he spent two months tinkering with everything to get the display in working order.
Dawn’s favorite piece was “The Night Before Christmas” house, which has an audio track reciting the whole story with music. There are several windows on the house and different ones will light up as the story is related.
Dawn’s brother, David, said all pieces to the village were just sitting in boxes in the garage, so they decide to do something with them. Instead of having in someone’s home like before, he said having it at a public space allows more people to enjoy it.
“It is just fun doing it,” Matthew Macejka said. “It is fun to see people come and enjoy it.”
Dawn’s Christmas Village can be viewed at the Rotterdam Senior Center, located at 2639 Hamburg St., every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., until Dec. 21.