In preparation for the holidays, families set up wreaths, mistletoe and lights around their homes to express Christmas spirit. For the average family, the Christmas tree might be the grand finale of all home decorations. However, for the Craig Duerr family, whose children both attend FC, the tree is only the beginning.
In fact, the Duerrs have five full-sized Christmas trees in their home, along with two tall nutcrackers on the front porch, cabinets adorned with garland, and big, round bowls of Christmas candy on the counters. However, all these extra ornaments are still not the highlight of the house, which was featured this year in two charity Fresno home tours.
For the past 17 years, the Duerr family has set up a miniature Christmas city including thousands of pieces and requiring the space of a three-car garage. Although this tradition began as a joke, the Duerrs anticipate the setting up of their display every year.
“The first piece of the city was given to me by my father a long time ago,” Michelle Duerr, senior Tyler’s mom, said. “At first, we did not plan to continue building on the city. We called the pieces we had “Tyler Town” after adopting Tyler. However, we soon changed it to “Duerrville” after we adopted Chloe [’14].”
Although the city makes for an extravagant Christmas decoration, Michelle says the time required to set up and tear down is overwhelming.
“There are well over one thousand pieces in the city, so it takes a long time to put together,” Michelle said. “I would have to say it takes over 250 hours to set up for display; to take down, it probably takes a little over 100 hours.”
Despite the hard work needed in order to successfully fit every piece together, Michelle claims she alone is in charge of the city’s display, and usually does not receive help from other family members.
“My son Tyler helps out about…zero percent of the time,” Michelle said. “Tyler and my husband leave all of the hard work to me. But, I don’t want them touching everything anyways. My daughter Chloe helps every now and then, but I am usually the one putting all the pieces together.”
Amongst the thousands of miniature buildings included, the Duerrs favor particular pieces due to sentimental value. The pieces range from a minature ski resort to an Empire State Building
“One of my favorite pieces is the Children’s Hospital,” Michelle said. “I also like the Ritz Hotel…it was the first piece we received, and it was a gift from my father.”
Due to the unique qualities of these complex decorations, La Comida Home Tours chose the Duerr household to visit.
“The La Comida Home Tours pick five different homes a year to come visit,” Michelle’s husband Craig said. “The main reason why they picked our home this year was because of the city in our garage.”
Having collected pieces for the past 17 years, the Duerrs say that some pieces maintain a higher value than others.
“The average piece of the city can cost between $85-$150,” Craig said. “There is one particular piece in our city that we are trying to protect, therefore we are not going to say which one it is…but there is a piece worth about $5,000. The city itself maintains a lot of value.”
Although he does not partake in Christmas decorating, Tyler anticipates the display of the miniature city for its traditional value.
“The city means a lot to me because it’s a family tradition,” Tyler said. “It has been a really important part of my Christmas each year. It just wouldn’t feel like Christmas without it.”
For more information, check out Miniature tower.
