Hundreds of local children are passing through Pixie Town each day, admiring the 11 moving mechanical scenes and characters — depicting a Ferris wheel, fire brigade, bakers, bankers, circus acrobats, a jazz band, a playground and more.
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum curator Peter Read said the Pixie Town displays had been enjoyed by generations of Dunedin people since they first arrived in the city in 1951.
For many years, the DIC department store hosted the displays, until it closed in the 1990s.
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum had cared for and refurbished the Pixie Town displays and hosted the annual celebrations for the past 20 years, Mr Read said.
"People remember loving them from when they were children, so they bring their own children and grandchildren to experience them as well," he said.
This year, the Pixie Town settings have been given a facelift, taking on a Punch and Judy-style created by exhibition designer Tim Cornelius.
The vision of Mr Cornelius to build a fun welcoming archway for the museum’s Tinker Town arts and crafts activities area was brought to life by museum collection technician Ioan Bramhall.
A sculptor, he made five named characters — Preston, Polly, Pania, Pat and Percy — using wire, polystyrene and air-drying clay, similar to how the originals were made.
The characters were then mounted on the archway as though they were helping to construct it.
"It was a lot of fun to create them, and something a bit different from my usual activities in the workshop," Mr Bramhall said.
• Pixie Town is open to the public at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum until December 24, with free sessions at 10am-noon and 1pm-4pm. In addition, a "quiet hour" in Pixie Town for neurodivergent visitors is on offer December 12-15, 9am-10am and 4pm-5pm.
Tinker Town will be open on December 14-15 and December 19-23, 10am-4.30pm, for free creative sessions.
Santa Claus will be on hand on December 14-15 and December 19-23, 10am-noon and 1pm-4pm.
There will also be other Christmas-themed activities at the museum, including The Great Pixie Hunt, music performances and workshops. See page 17 of today’s issue of The Star for details.
