"Little pixie footsteps" have once again returned to the halls of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, heralding the festive season.
The museum’s annual display of mechanical pixies — Pixie Town — will open on Friday alongside a free craft workshop.
Exhibitions designer Tim Cornelius said while the display took about four days to install, preparation began early in the year.
"We’ll start having our first Pixie Town meeting about March ... you can hear those little pixie footsteps coming months ahead."
This year, visitors will be able to make Christmas crafts, including puppets based on five new pixie characters, in an activity area called Tinker Town.
"Generally speaking, it’ll be another very Christmassy time at Toitū," Mr Cornelius said.
The pixies were first produced in the 1930s, touring the country and decorating display windows in department stores.
The museum has hosted a Pixie Town display annually for about 20 years after acquiring the models when the Dunedin D.I.C department store closed in the 1990s.
Mr Cornelius said the wooden pixies nearly shook themselves apart after a few years and often needed a top up of paint.
"It always takes a bit of tender loving care to keep them in fine operational order.
"Although, some are kind of cannibalised from dolls and toys and things like that.
"Having looked at a lot of them close up, many of them are made from whatever they could find that was going to serve the purpose."
Museum curator Peter Read said while the pixies had not always been associated with Christmas, they had come to represent the holiday season for many Dunedin families.
Toitū’s Pixie Town display had helped to keep the tradition alive.
"In a way, it is logical to sort of associate pixies with Christmas ... they’re child-like and Christmas is all about kids.
"We’ve created a whole new generation of regular visitors."
ruby.shaw@odt.co.nz
