CHESTERMERE – Some people have hobbies that they are able share with lots of other people who have similar interests in the same field and then are others that because of the size of their hobby, they are unable to bring it to the masses. Such is the case for Marian Boutin who started her hobby some 16 years ago. Her hobby is collecting porcelain houses and other paraphernalia mostly, but not limited to a Christmas theme. Boutin has an unbelievable 150 plus houses encompassing a winter or Christmas theme. The ornaments are beautifully displayed throughout her house in Lake Ere Estates. Most of them are arranged in 3 tiers cut from construction Styrofoam resembling a snowy mountainous small town. There are literally thousands of smaller figurines from horses and wagons to people dancing and skating about. The massive mountain scene is so colourful and detailed; the pictures accompanying this article definitely would not do it justice. This is truly an amazing sight to see all of the houses arranged with their lights aglow and musical sounds from many of the buildings and decorations.
Boutin begins arranging the mini town well before Christmas and it takes her and her husband Ray about 5 weeks to assemble it all. It’s a new scene every year and the collection grows a little each year as well. Although Marion does the designing of the scenery, Ray provides a wealth of knowledge from his building construction experience for the various levels of the miniature town. He is also an unpaid repairman for the house lighting and train tunnel construction but does enjoy keeping himself busy with the more technical aspects.
The collection however isn’t confined to just the living room; erected in some of the other rooms are nothing but churches she has collected over the years. The detail in these pieces is remarkable to say the least. Another area of the house is displaying houses from the Norman Rockwell collection.
Boutin’s healthy obsession doesn’t end with winter and Christmas themes though. She is a true collector and has several other scenes that are just as intriguing and take her from one special occasion to the next.
People collect all kinds of things from stamps to coins to cars and there is obviously a market for this type of hobby. That said there is yet another person in Chestermere who collects the same type of hardware as Boutin and has a similar display. Though not as large as the one described above, Ed Lachner spends an equal amount of time designing and assembling his mountainous village. His plywood base is supported above the fireplace with decorated Christmas wrapped columns and the rest is supported by the entertainment centre. Draped with a pillow stuffing fabric to look like snow, Lachner’s village consists of 41 porcelain structures nestled within the snowy mountain scenery surrounded by numerous figurines of every description. “The grandkids get a real kick out the display, especially when the train is running across the front and in through the tunnel” said Lachner.
Lachner’s collecting habit had to have begun many years ago as he has restored a great number of collectable cars. His wife Cindi is also a collector of carousel horses so it is obvious it runs in the family. “Cindi has to dust her collection though” says Lachner.
