This year we were invited by a family in our church small group to a nearby historic Christmas town. In Farmington, MN, like 15 minutes from our house, is something called Dakota City Heritage Village. We had no idea it existed but it seems to be common knowledge in this part of the Twin Cities, what I'll call 'south of the river.' (The Minnesota River.) We got to check it out last weekend and I'm glad we did.
Basically what they've done is recreated a small village as it would've been in 1900. The original buildings, filled with authentic antiques, were moved there from different places in the county (as I understand it), starting when it first opened in 1978. There are 22 old buildings in all, including a working blacksmith and print shop, the coolest ones imo. There's also a train station, school, church, general store, barber shop, library, bank, fire house, jail and a couple family homes, all of which you can enter and explore. The village is named 'Dakota City,' the initial name for what became the city of Farmington in 1859, before it was moved to be along the railroad in 1872.
It's the volunteers that take the experience to the next level. There were people dressed in era clothing staffing the various buildings, many of whom know a great deal about their exact spot. Everyone wanted to share and seemed happy to be there. St. Nicholas was in the train station in an older, more muted, style costume. A couple of men were actually working the smithy with metal from the forge and hammers and anvils (our eldest didn't want to leave and has since said he wants to be a blacksmith). The press was hot and printing Christmas cards for sale. A couple women cooked in one of the homes. Some teenage girls staffed the school. A choir sang Christmas songs in the church and we were handed electric candles on our way to the pews. The drug store was set up with food and ice cream. Two horse-drawn trolleys looped repeatedly through town (the ride was easily the highlight for the kids), though you needed to watch out for them on the roadway. I even noticed some people dressed up just to walk around and be part of the ambiance.
The best comparison I can make is to Colonial Williamsburg (see this post from our 2021 visit). Both have historic buildings and people on-site to help you visualize life in their settings. The differences are scale, this is considerably smaller obviously, and how often you can visit. Williamsburg is open 365 days a year while Dakota City is only during Dakota County Fair week in August and a couple weekends in December for Christmas (though apparently there are tours and camps available too, per their website). I will say the limited number of days makes the commitment and knowledge of the volunteers all the more impressive. In retrospect it's kind of fascinating how similar rural life in 1900 looked to colonial times, a whole lot more changed during the 20th century than the 19th. Lastly, of course, this is much closer to us and cheaper ($5/person 5 and over).
I will note mistakes were made and our time was cut short. The kids always get squirrelly approaching dinner time (the witching hour is real) and I tend to get ornery when they're out of control in public. Well, we got to the village a little before 4pm without a great plan for food. I brought some snacks that got left in the car. Everyone was hungry and emotional by 6 so we skipped the Christmas Tree lighting and went to get something to eat at the drug store, half abandoning the friends we were there with. I don't think the hot dogs and ice cream we purchased were enough. Then I had to take boy #2 to the bathroom as he danced around and refused to admit the urgency. I thought I could find a quiet place for him go outside but failed before finally walking across town to the modern bathrooms. When we were done my wife and the other two kids had caught up and most everyone was ready to go home. Ideally we could've stuck it out to see the parade that happens at 7, but that wasn't in the cards. In the future (I'm sure they'll be more visits), we'll have better knowledge of where to go, bring some sort of packed dinner for the kiddos and gird ourselves for the long haul. The drive to give up and go was more me than my wife, full admittance there.
So, I want thank our friends for inviting and sharing this with us. We will be looking forward to doing it again next year.
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