UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J. — We all know someone who is crazy about Christmas, but few scale the holiday heights quite like Bob Santomarco of Bergen County.
He has spent 35 years creating what may be the biggest holiday village display in New Jersey.
“Late at night, when my wife’s asleep, I’ll go and stare at these things and all of a sudden … I’m in there,” Santomarco said with a laugh Thursday.
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At his Upper Saddle River home, it starts to look like Christmas in October.
Santomarco needs weeks to set up his holiday village, really. It’s more of a Christmas season city, with almost 200 buildings.
“There’s about a thousand figures or so, I stopped counting a long time ago,” Santomarco said. “I started 35 years ago. I started with a couple lonely houses that actually belonged to my wife.”
“And then he took over! And here I am, but he loves it. It’s his passion. He can do whatever he wants. I have to put up with it,” Paula Santomarco said.
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Bob Santomarco has handcrafted an elaborate display for his buildings and figures, carving and painting Styrofoam and adding many little touches.
“You look closely enough, you’ll see pictures of my loved ones,” he said.
The display rewards close scrutiny. There’s Charles Dickens and the Ghost of Christmas Past, a den of bears, and Santa on his sleigh.
“Some people will take a half hour to look all the way around. ‘Whoa, look at this,’ at that, all the nooks and crannies and crevices and all the little surprises that one little area can bring,” Bob Santomarco said.
He’s already planning what to add next year. As they say, the more the merrier!
Bob Santomarco said he tries to buy the buildings and characters at after-Christmas sales. He said he couldn’t even guesstimate how much he has spent on the display over the last 35 years.
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- Bergen county
- Christmas
- Holiday Season
