The Winter Wonderland Windows can be viewed at the Schuster Center Wintergarden at Second and Main Streets in downtown Dayton until Dec. 29. Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
To many Daytonians, both old and young, it’s just not Christmas without the animated characters whose antics once delighted shoppers at Rike’s department store. Busy elves, excited children and a menagerie of animals framed within Christmas scenes have charmed residents for 70 years.
The window displays go back to 1943 when the National Cash Register Co. (NCR) placed five scenes from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in their New York City office windows, according to research done by Dayton historian Curt Dalton. The figures, dressed in period attire, were incorporated into elaborate backgrounds built by NCR carpenters.
In 1945 Frederik Rike, owner of the Rike-Kumler company, successfully campaigned to move the display into the windows of his department store at Second and Main streets in downtown Dayton.
Visiting the windows became a holiday tradition for many Miami Valley families over the decades. The sidewalks around the store overflowed with families gazing at the cheerful characters inside the festive windows.
After the store closed in 1991 the window displays were auctioned off splitting up the characters between other communities and private buyers. Today there are still figures that remain unaccounted for. Eventually the Downtown Dayton Partnership (DDP) purchased a portion of the remaining figures.
Years of wear and neglect took its toll on the remaining figures. Duct tape held some of the characters together and others were missing limbs and clothing. A thousand bricks gathered from the implosion of the old Rike’s building in 1999 were donated to the DDP and sold for $50 each, which helped pay for restoration.
The display found a new home in 2003 when the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center opened delighting both lovers of nostalgia and first time viewers. Cases built for each scene mimic the old Rike’s windows.
Janice Potter, the assistant production manager for the Victoria Theatre, also known as the “assembler of the elves” recreated the holiday displays this year. “I don’t know how I got lucky enough to be able to take care of this part of history and be part of this holiday tradition,” she said.
In November Potter unpacked more than 75 individually wrapped characters stored in the basement of the Schuster Center. Each figure and display is protected to prevent dust and moisture from settling and ensure the treasures for future generations.
As Potter made sure all the moving mechanisms worked while assembling the displays in the Schuster Center Wintergarden, pedestrians stopped and shared their memories of peering into the Rike’s windows as youngsters and continuing the tradition with their own children today.
“Sometimes I worry that Christmas has come too soon but I have been so thrilled to put these Christmas decorations together and to see the joy on everyone’s faces as they come through. It put them in the holiday spirit,” she said.
Today the “Wonderland Windows” may seem quaint in a holiday filled with technology and gadgets but the displays remain a popular place to be transported into animated holiday joy.
“It’s magic,” said Potter. “It’s really fun to see people’s reactions when they see the figures. It’s a taste of the past.”
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