‘A piece of nostalgia:’ WDM’s over 30-year-old Eaton’s Christmas exhibit still drawing crowds

A lot of the world has changed this past year, but one thing you can count on to not change is the Eaton’s exhibit at Saskatoon’s Western Development Museum (WDM).

Now in its 33rd year on display, the exhibit continues to bring people through the doors of the museum, according to manager Jason B. Wall.

“It’s a piece of nostalgia. There are people who remember going to Eaton’s and actually experiencing this display in the 1980’s — they remember it. There are lots of fond memories. They’re bringing their children, who in turn grow up, they start bringing their children, then you have grandma and grandpa bringing the grandchildren. It’s a pretty cool Christmas tradition for the Saskatoon area,” he told 650 CKOM Tuesday.

“It is a trip down memory lane for a lot of our visitors to the museum.”

The display goes back to 1946, first featured in storefront windows at the Eaton’s store in Winnipeg. The exhibit tells the story of the boy who became Santa Claus through a collection of animatronic characters. Wall also said that most of the motors and mechanisms powering the animatronics were repurposed before they hit the stores at Eaton’s in Winnipeg.

“They were actually harvested or recycled from old military equipment,” he said. “Taking weapons of destruction and repurposing them into a celebration of Christmas and the story of Santa Claus.”

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Over the years, the display moved over to the Saskatoon Eaton’s store before making its debut at the WDM in 1987. When the museum originally received the exhibit, Wall said it wasn’t in the condition we see today.

“It was in pretty bad shape,” he said. “We have a huge volunteer component (at the WDM). We’re fortunate in our volunteer group, we have quite a variety of different skill sets. We had people who could look after the motors, (the) clothing that’s on the figures.”

He said countless hours had to be put in by seamstresses to keep the condition of the clothing up, along with sewing it back on to the actual physical figurines. Staff have continued working hard to maintain its original charm, which continues to draw people into the museum year after year.

“This has become a generational exhibit. We’ve had different people, particularly from Saskatoon but from the surrounding area, that come here every year specifically to take in the Eaton’s exhibit,” Wall explained.

Wall said there’s still some time to get to the WDM to see the exhibit through, and past, the holiday season.

“We’re going to have it open to the public until the day after Ukrainian Christmas, we like to stretch Christmas out as long as we can,” he said.

The WDM is closed from Dec. 25 to Dec. 29 but reopens to the public on Dec. 30. It’s closed again on New Years Day but reopens the following day to the public.