In some scenes the elves would be playing with each other, in other scenes the elves would be working feverishly with Santa Claus reading letters and building toys.

Each scene, whether it was in a mail room or the toy shop, was made brilliant by the seemingly lively robotic little people dressed in reds and greens and fluffy, blizzardly beards.

“These window displays have been part of Cincinnati’s past generations. Both children and adults were fascinated by the displays,” Spinnenweber, the Director of Operations for the Mariemont Inn, said, adding he was one of the many people that found the elves intriguing. “I talk to people today and many of them still remember the displays and the festive Christmas decorations.”

The elves display, which for so long was a permanent setup in the downtown store and only opened to the public around the holidays, was discontinued in the 1980s when Shillito merged with Federated Department Stores – which ultimately renamed themselves Lazarus.

As a result, the last toy was built, the last letter from a child to Santa was read, and the enjoyment of the elvish display was over.

Years went by. The echos of children’s laughter and of the elves’ hammerstrokes became nothing more than a faded memory. And the elvish display nearly forgotten.

But, in 1997, when Lazarus moved to Fountain Square, two Boy Scout Troops found and purchased the entire exhibit.

The elves were old and their electric motors were not as fine-tuned and oiled as they used to be. So the scout troops went to work on the elves, fixing gears and replacing wires.

Once cleaned and tuned-up, the scouts put the elves back to work at the Old Dent School House. All the elves resumed sorting the mail in the mail room, checking lists and working with Santa on the toys in approximately 14 different holiday scenes.

The scouts called their event “Everything Christmas” and it grew in popularity every year. In addition to the numerous display scenes, the exhibit also featured the opportunity for children to have their picture taken with Old Saint Nick.

“A lot of us had gone through the department store’s Santa’s Workshop as kids, so it was really neat as adults to create this,” said a volunteer of the scout troop. “We can relive our childhood a little bit.”

But, to Bill Spinnenweber, it just wasn’t about reliving his childhood; he also wanted to create a new generation of childhood memories for today’s Greater Cincinnati children.

In January 2005, he purchased the display ... every elf, every prop, every last item associated with the original Shillito Department Store elvish holiday exhibit.

“The display was in danger of being sold to another individual who planned on moving it to Louisville.

“I hated to see the exhibit moved out of Cincinnati and I thought it would be a good opportunity to be a part of the few true holiday experiences,” he said.

Bill has been ardently working throughout the summer to convert each scene to be semi-portable.

He hopes to display the exhibit soon so that everyone in the village, and the Cincinnati area, can live (and re-live) the magic of Santa’s elves. He has the exhibit, now all he needs is a place to let the elves make their Christmas cheer.

In fact, Bill is presently working on creating a village Christmas tradition. It is his vision to bring to Mariemont the “Christmas Experience”.

“No other area in Cincinnati has as much potential to execute a Christmas-themed experience than Mariemont,” he said.

The holiday experience would include the current luminiaria event, old towne square tree lighting, and horse-drawn carriage rides, in addition to the elf display, Santa visits and pictures, a Christmas market for local artists, live reindeer visits, an outdoor Christmas light display, live music and carolers, ice sculpture contests, holiday food contests and more.