Hobbies in The Villages

During our trip over Christmas to our place in The Villages, we visited a model train show put on the the Model Train Club. This was an extensive display of various gauges from very large to very small scales. This was the third year that the club held the show and its admission was free to all. It was held at The Colony Regional Rec Center down in the south end of The Villages and took place in four different rooms. Each setup was around 40' by 20' in size with very detailed scale model trains, villages, towns, and landscapes. These guys really got into their hobby.

The other hobby that we saw was the decorating of houses and neighborhoods with Christmas decorations. One neighborhood displayed lights up and down the street and they synchronized their light displays with an FM radio broadcast that one of the residents set up. You drive through the neighborhood, set your radio to 97.6 FM, and listen to a Christmas program while enjoying the displays. One guy really took his display seriously. The picture at the left shows this year's display. Every year they expand the display and add new features. The only way for them to expand next year is to go up!