It Happens Here: Enchanted Village Brings Vintage Christmas To Avon
AVON (CBS) -- It Happens Here in Avon. Settled by a blacksmith in 1720, it is named for the Avon River in England. The town's seal even includes a picture of William Shakespeare, who was from Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
Just off Route 24, there is a chance every year to step back in time into a piece of Boston history – The Enchanted Village. Through the 1950s and 60s, families visited the display at Jordan Marsh until the department store closed. The Enchanted Village was eventually sold to the City of Boston, but due to a lack of funding, it went up for auction after years in the dark.
"I said, 'I've got to have it.' Everything was broken, nothing worked. The sets were half of them were missing pieces, "explained Eliot Tatelman, the iconic face of Jordan's Furniture. "People are loving it, enjoying it and it brings back memories to a lot of people."
Dozens of employees at Jordan's Furniture worked to bring the display back to life, an impressive sight even for Tatelman, who had been in the business for decades.
"All of our people rebuilt, made parts. The designers, they were repainting the mannequins. We had a mannequin hospital where we put in all new motors in the mannequins and it became a labor of love for the company," Tatelman said.
Anyone familiar with The Enchanted Village and Jordan Marsh remembers the special blueberry muffins, so Eliot decided to track them down. It was an idea Tatelman admits seemed a little crazy to some on his team.
"There's history to those muffins. I remember when I was a kid my mother every week would go into Boston and bring back a box of blueberry muffins," he said. "They were famous. The hard sugar on top, the big blueberries. We got the original guy that made them. He has them made for us here."
In addition to the original Enchanted Village, Jordan's Furniture's Avon store includes a 'Polar Express' 4D experience, a Christmas laser show, a skating rink, a trio of singing penguins and Santa Claus.
Next year, Tatelman and his team are going even bigger.
"I'm going to tell you a little secret," he said. "Next year we're building a mountain in here and we're going to have indoor tubing!"
