Here are the final photos I wanted to share of Madrid's Christmas Festival -- on this the Feast of the Epiphany. Toyland was one of Madrid's most remarkable projects -- a miniature town with scenes from Mother Goose and famous cartoons figures, a little train that children could ride around the scenes and a small ferris wheel designed for dolls. The above photo is taken from a Collier's article in 1940 (photo by Charles Kerlee) that depicts my grandfather Pierre Ménager painting the sets in anticipation of the festival. The miners did all the necessary construction -- and Pierre helped to add the finishing touches to the painted pieces (many of which were repainted every year prior to the festival).
In a January 1963 radio broadcast in Santa Fe given by Lorraine Carr, she mentions Pierre and his friend Walt Disney:
"As a matter of fact, it was back in the early 1940's Walt Disney came to Santa Fe to visit Madrid at Christmas time to see the famous lights of Madrid and to visit with his friend, Pierre Ménager, who at one time worked at the Disney studios at Burbank, California...and did you know that the person who designed these fantastic figures to delight the children, was our own Pierre Ménager, a well-known artist? Pierre's heart was in this work and he worked with great pride to create this Disneyland for our community -- our Disneyland of long ago. Our Disneyland was free! Everybody came, nobody paid. The Lights of Madrid and the fantastic Toyland for children designed by Pierre were known over our nation and the TWA planes would detour to fly over the little mining town of Madrid to give the passengers a thrill."
And finally, I have also included photos from 1927 and 1929 that show children getting food and new shoes and families turkeys for the Christmas feast -- something else Oscar Huber did every year as part of the celebration. All in all, I think Christmas in Madrid must have been a splendid holiday.
