‘Suntree Santa’ offers tours of Christmas train village in his living room

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SUNTREE — Chugging locomotives, clanging bells and blaring whistles resonate across Willard Davis’ Christmastime multi-level mini-city, where toy trains loop past hundreds of model-scale buildings, motorized figurines and decorative displays in his Suntree living room.

“We even have the Times Square building where the ball goes down. And an eggnog factory, and one brewery. We have Cracker Barrel and Jo-Ann Fabrics. We even have a Spam factory,” the 77-year-old professional Santa Claus pointed out, watching four trains scoot across his tracks.

“We’ve got a museum. We have a fire station and a dance hall. As you can see through the windows, the people are dancing in there,” Davis said, peering at the miniature building.

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Davis and his wife, Sachiko, have offered private tours of their comprehensive Christmas model-train village since they moved to Suntree in 1997. The colorful display debuted decades ago as a far smaller setup atop a 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood, back when they lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Today, powered by a 400-watt MTH Z-4000 transformer, their toy trains traverse an eclectic Christmas community populated by scale-model pedestrians, buildings, snow-covered streetscapes, horse-drawn carriages, illuminated lampposts and trees, and even an ice rink with tiny skaters.

Davis has worked as a professional Santa Claus across the country the past 39 years, including a 10-year holiday-season stint at The Christmas Cottage & Gift Shoppe in downtown Melbourne. A U.S. Air Force retiree, he remains spry enough to drive two Honda motorcycles, including a 650 Silver Wing.

Locally, he has also served as Santa Claus for the March of Dimes and the Junior League of the Space Coast’s annual Festival of Trees.

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Marisa Graybeal and her son Reagan, 3, wait for a train to circle Willard Davis’ expansive Christmas village in his Suntree living room.

“I like the history of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus. I’m deep in,” Davis said, sitting in his easy chair wearing a red Hawaiian shirt covered in Santas.

“I’ve tried to give people the facts: ‘Are you real?’ Definitely, I’m real. The Santa Clauses consider themselves extensions of the original St. Nicholas,” he said.

After living in an orphanage as a baby and toddler, Davis said he was unfamiliar with Santa Claus until he was 5 years old. That’s when, after reuniting with his mother, he had an unforgettable introduction on St. Nick’s lap at a Cincinnati department store.

“I had no idea who he was or what I was doing there. But his beard interested me, and so I start getting my hand all tangled in his beard. And then it was stuck — and I couldn’t get it out,” Davis said.

“So they had to go up to the beauty shop, and (a beautician) came down with a pair of scissors and went on the backside of his beard and cut my hand out. At that time I was crying, because I was upset about the whole thing. And I ruined Santa’s beard,” he said.

A bird’s-eye view of a portion of Willard Davis’ Christmas model train village at his Suntree home.

For 2022, Davis — a former Air Force helicopter flight engineer — tinkered with his train display’s aging North Pole neighborhood by replacing a malfunctioning toy factory. Some of the buildings are deteriorating because their motorized rubber belts quit working after 25 years or thereabouts, he said.

He is considering adding a Charles Dickens village next winter that will illustrate “A Christmas Carol,” the English writer’s classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge.

“We had to come up with a bridge system for the train on the second level. And it was a real pain getting everything leveled, because if it’s not level, the train won’t run right. We fought that for many years. And finally, we got it right just by trial and error,” Davis said.

Dressed as Santa Claus, Willard Davis greets 3-year-old Reagan Graybeal at his Suntree home on Christmas Eve.

Rockledge resident Marisa Graybeal and Reagan, her 3-year-old son, dropped by the Davises’ Yuletide train display on Friday. Reagan cried when he had to go home — and the couple invited him to come back the next day, on Christmas Eve.

“Will Davis was in his Santa suit this time, so Reagan got the full effect. And he even got to drive the train. So that was the highlight of Reagan’s Christmas,” Graybeal said.

“We were able to visit and stay quite some time, and just got to know each other and enjoy each other’s company. They tasted our cookies that Reagan helped make, and (Will) let him use the remote control,” she said.

Reagan cried again when he had to go home after his second visit, Graybeal said.

Davis will continue giving private tours of his Suntree train display until he disassembles it in early March.

For more information, call 321-242-8092.

A model train rounds a bend at Willard Davis’ Christmas model train village at his Suntree home.

Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Suntree Santa Claus offers tours of his home Christmas train village