PDX Christmas - Alpenrose Dairyville

Dairyville is a Western-themed town that families can explore on Sunday afternoons in the summer, but it also opens up around Christmas.

At Christmas there is also Storybook Lane, and we will focus on that next week.

Another big difference at Christmas is that everything is hung with green.

It is mainly displays of how a town might be set up in the past. You can look in the windows of the bank and school and post office.

It is all just a little bit more Christmas-y at that time of year.

Well, maybe some things don't change too much.

One thing I started thinking about is that a large business might function as a little town, with a cash office and postal service.

Alpenrose was a specific part of local dairy history, when all of the dairies were started by Swiss immigrants.

The Oregonian ran an interesting story on that history a few years ago, and there is a link to it posted down at the end of the post.

One emphasis for the Cadonau family was community involvement. Here you are near the Little League field and the velodrome, but Dairyville in itself is a gift to the community, because it is free.

There are ways to spend money. Concessions allow local groups to have fundraisers.

You can have your picture taken with Santa, and you can choose a professional photo package, but you don't need to.

This is another of those places that depends on volunteers, working with local organizations and clubs to do things like run the train displays.

That means hours are limited, and also nothing is particularly flashy.

It is still very charming and sweet.

Cows are never forgotten, being the key to the whole dynasty.

They are never that far away.

For one final glance at the history, on our way out we stopped at the Wagon Museum to look at old trucks for delivering milk.

The display was not very detailed, but there were several vehicles in good condition for viewing.

Not everything was used for milk delivery.

The dairy's history also includes a circus, with a wagon left over from that.

There was also a bell wagon, full of the bells that were awarded to the cows that gave the most milk.

There is enough to look at to be interesting, but none of it should be overwhelming for small children.

There were many steps that could pose accessibility issues, so that should be taken into consideration for your party's needs.

However, even that would not affect everything, including the wagon museum.

Summer and Christmas hours should be checked on the web site's event calendar.

http://alpenrose.com/event-calendar/summer-sundays-in-dairyville-3/
http://alpenrose.com/events/christmas-in-dairyville/
https://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2016/01/alpenrose_dairy_at_100_years_a.html

PDX Christmas - The Miracle of a Million Lights at the Victorian Belle

It took a little longer than I intended, but I made it to the Victorian Belle this year for The Miracle of a Million Lights.

This was one place where I learned to appreciate the work of the volunteers. Setting this up would have involved an incredible amount of work. Based on pictures from other years, they also change things around every year.

Beyond that there are community members asking questions, acting as security and guides, dressing as costumed characters, and filling many other roles.

Although I was sorry to see that I had missed the gorgeous Cinderella room (pictures on the web page let me know it had been there), I am impressed that they keep reinventing and innovating. That's pretty cool.

 Just about every decoration you can imagine appears somewhere on the grounds or in the house.

 They also put in many different activities besides just looking at decorations.

There was live music under a covered area, and movies in a different tent.

The movie I saw, Abominable Christmas, is 43 minutes long, so it is possible to do all of the entertainment and a full tour within the allotted time.

Weather was a key issue. It was somewhat cold, but mainly because it was so wet. Accommodations for that included various warming lamps, and one of the covered areas had a little fire.

That fire turned out to be the central place for s'mores with Rudolph. Rudolph was there, and there were sticks, but no s'more materials.

For that, kits needed to be bought in the entertainment tent, where there was other food and drink available.

The initial admission is low, but there are other ways to spend money. Photos with Santa were $10, and the little bags of popcorn in the movie tent were $1.

As the initial admission price was pretty low ($8, with a discount available if you brought a canned food donation), I think the overall price was still reasonable, but it is wise to plan ahead.

That could include planning for weather and lines.

I went on the Saturday before Christmas, and there were a lot of people. Earlier in the month might have been better.

Also it was pouring. There were places where you could be under cover, but there is a lot to see outside, and it is wise to be prepared with hoods or umbrellas or whatever you need.

There was an umbrella shuttle service when you were going into the house. You could drop off umbrellas there and there would be umbrellas at the exit too. I was thinking they were loaners, but I would not completely rule out being able to be reunited with your own umbrella.

You enter on the grounds, and then after you tour the house you are back on the grounds, so the order is not an issue for missing things.

It can be an issue for timing, as the line to get into the house just seemed to keep getting longer. One big reason I watched the movie was for a place to stay out of the rain while I hoped the line would go down. It did not. It is a good idea to be opportunistic about that.

I really enjoyed looking around.

I do have to say that it is not particularly accessible. That is not just that there are stairs and steps, but some of the terrain on the grounds is pretty uneven.

They have put coverings and walkways out to protect the ground, which is necessary, but sometimes things get a little narrow and bumpy.

I did not ask about wheelchair access, but I would check in advance if there are concerns for your party.

For other types of access, the Victorian Belle is very close to the Kenton stop on the MAX Yellow Line. There is not a lot of parking available, so that is an excellent way to get there.

Mainly I was happy to see how well-integrated the event seems to be into the community.

That includes Paul Bunyan's presence in an outside display.

The Miracle of a Million Lights is a huge display of not only lights, at times elegant and at other times garish. I was really glad I went.

http://www.victorianbelle.com/the-miracle-of-a-million-lights.html

https://sporktogo.blogspot.com/2016/12/what-happened-to-victorian-mansion.html

PDX Christmas - Scheduling

There were two more Christmas attractions that I visited this year, but I held off on writing about them in favor of things that were still going to be available, giving readers a chance to make it before the next year.

I was sometimes surprised by how soon something would end, with so much of the Christmas season left. I then started paying more attention to how much was based on volunteers.

Whether they are 4H kids wrangling livestock for displays, or people selling concessions as fundraisers, or people responsible for set up and take down, there is a lot of necessity for personal touch. People love participating, but they still get tired.

I appreciate that their needs are taken into consideration too. That is how it should be, for both organizers and guests. Be courteous while enjoying the sights.

It is a reason to pay attention to hours and days of operations when planning your Christmas activities. (Also Halloween activities, because those corn mazes don't haunt themselves.)

Remember that it is better to check the attraction's own page, rather than looking at newspapers or holiday guides. That tripped us up last year.