Since 2012 we have had an open house every year on Halloween and Christmas Eve. More properly an “Open Yard”, we decorate the train garden for the appropriate holiday, run trains and hang out with anyone who happens to stop by. On Halloween we hand out candy to the kids and chat with the grown-ups. And on Christmas Eve we have a table with hot chocolate, mulled cider and home-made cookies.
We have never had a year when no one showed up, nor have we ever had a really large crowd, it is just something we do every year, rain or shine. Which is really a bit of a misstatement as both occur in the evening so there is no “Shine” and we have never had it rain on either holiday either. Light drizzle has been the worst of it and we have a pop-up canopy that takes care of that. The trains do not actually mind a bit of rain but the human operators do.
In this year of the pandemic we debated if we would do our open yards for the holidays. With so many other of our traditions going by the wayside this year we decided that we would carry-on as ever. Everything is done outside, we have a large yard with no need for people to congregate closely and we will be taking all the precautions we can think of. Halloween candy will be pre-bagged and on a table. As of right now we will be doing something for Christmas Eve but have not made any decisions on the cider, cocoa and cookies.
Dismal Creek Railroad 