COLUMBUS—Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) will once again host the Huntington Holiday Train display – Nov. 22 through Jan. 8, 2022 – during regular library hours: Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. CML recently announced that, due to a staffing shortage, all 23 locations will close on Sundays through at least Jan. 9, 2022. The first hour of parking in the library garage is free.
The impressive 600-square-foot Huntington Holiday Train includes multiple miniature trains running on more than 280 feet of track surrounded by more than 50 pounds of snowflakes. The miniature buildings – which are all made from leaves, bark, seeds, pinecones, fungus and moss – are modeled after actual structures in Germany.
This marks the 29th year of the holiday attraction, which was built in 1992 by Applied Imagination founder Paul Busse. The train was originally displayed in the lobby of the historic Huntington building at Broad and High streets. In 2009, Huntington graciously loaned the train to CML. This year will be its eleventh on display in Main Library’s atrium. (There was no train display in 2015 due to Main Library’s renovation, nor in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Highlights include a 6-foot-tall cathedral, an 8-foot-tall castle and a waterfall that pumps 600 gallons of water an hour. Each building in the display took between one and three weeks to create. The castle and waterfall took more than three months to complete; it took more than 10 months to build the cathedral. The entire display takes two days to set up.
Visit columbuslibrary.org/huntington-holiday-train for more information.
CML’s annual Holiday Open House, which typically coincides with the ceremonial switching on of the holiday train, is canceled this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Masks are required to enter CML buildings by order of the City of Columbus and Library Board of Trustees. Children under the age of 2 are not required to wear a mask.
