Cultural district to feature Holiday Village this season
An offshoot of the Mitte Cultural District is looking for help from businesses, organizations and individuals to create Brownsville’s first miniature Holiday Village, a project aimed at bringing more people into the cultural district.
The cultural district encompasses Dean Porter Park, Gladys Porter Zoo, the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art and the Children’s Museum of Brownsville among other attractions.
Mellena Conner, chairwoman of the Holiday Village advisory team and past chairwoman of Dean Porter Park Renovation Inc., says she got the idea from a magazine article about a similar project in Ogden, Utah. The Holiday Village is composed of playhouse-sized “cottages” of varying designs and themes — bakery, bicycle shop, church, dentist office, etc. — all trimmed in holiday trappings.
“I thought this really looks like something that we all could get together with and present to the city,” Conner said.
You won’t be able to enter these cottages, but you can look all you want: Plexiglas windows will afford visitors a view of the cheery interiors of each cottage — which should be at their prettiest when the lights come on at dusk. The displays will include scaled-down versions of historic Brownsville buildings, such as the Stillman House and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
The Holiday Village will be set up in the “meadow” area of Dean Porter Park beginning Nov. 22 and running through the end of the year. The project team is putting together family activities and is talking to schools about providing holiday entertainment. Santa Claus will also make appearances at the Holiday Village during its run. The timing of these other events will be publicized once things are under way, Conner said.
Ten cottage sponsors have stepped forward so far, though Conner hopes to attract more. She welcomes help from any quarter: designers, builders, painters and decorators, or anyone willing simply to pay for materials or donate cash.
Partnering on individual cottages is perfectly acceptable, she said. Cottage sponsors will be recognized with a placard at the site of each display, while donations will flow through Dean Porter Park Renovation Inc., still a 501c3 nonprofit organization, meaning that donations are tax-deductible.
In addition to cottage sponsors, the project has four major “event” sponsors: the City of Brownsville Parks and Recreation, GMS Waste Disposal, the Lower Valley Dental Association and the Mitte Cultural District. The project team itself has more than 20 members across the spectrum in terms of expertise.
“We have professional architects who have been responsible for drawings of some of the cottages,” Conner said. “We have some individuals that have decided they wanted to do it themselves, so they got their own designer and they will do their own project.”
Cottage construction is getting started a bit late, she said. The structures must be finished by late October or early November to leave enough time for decorating the interiors. Conner concedes the state of the economy these days makes it harder to raise money.
“We’ve had a lot of enthusiasm, but the bottom line is economic,” she said. “Hopefully once it comes and people are pleased, they’ll sign up for next year. We hope every year that this will grow. I think the key point here is that this is a volunteer process, and it brings a lot of people from a lot of different areas. I think once people see what it is that they will want to jump onboard.”
To help, call Mellena Conner at 546-2646 or Chris Patterson, Brownsville Parks and Recreation, at 542-2064.
