Christmas Village

Its a special tradition for a Stoney Creek couple, that is now spreading Christmas cheer to strangers.

$50,000 worth of indoor decorations turned a local home into a Christmas wonderland with a show stopping mini village.

If you couldn’t tell Corey Stark and his wife Cheryl are kind of into Christmas.

Their favourite part of the season is setting up the Christmas village, that started out as 10 mini houses 15 years ago.

The Starks have more of a booming city, than a small town. Equipped with a bingo hall, a beer store, an ice rink, churches, bakeries, Santa’s work shop, and of course, St. Nick himself.

The smaller buildings range from $30 to $60 each. But the big ones, can cost over $200.

Corey Stark is the one who assembles, and he started on Halloween, and put the finishing touches on December first. About 180 hours of work.

The Starks open their doors, to allow others to see their Christmas village, asking that visitors bring a donation to food share food bank.

The Starks also have 4 Christmas trees, a 6 foot Santa, and a talking bear.

Its good to be back, they say, after taking a year off last year when Cheryl’s father died.

The decorations bringing back Christmas cheer for the Starks.

The Starks say they buy their mini houses for the village at The Bay, Michael’s and online, but if they have a specific one in mind that they cant find, they will cross the border to search for it. It’s a Christmas hobby that requires work all year long.