D Street Salem Holiday Display

Welcome the D Street Holiday Display

Mark has been building this holiday display on his lawn for about 30 years. The display has grown and changed over the years

The purpose of this webpage is to explain all the details that are in the display for a more through experience.

There are three main sections to the display, also featured are items no longer part of the display

The Snowman – Dog Park
North Pole-Salem Golden Spike Ceremony
Deer Park
The rest of the decorations past and present
Photos of prior years

The Snowman – Dog Park

This has been the latest growing feature of the display. It started with on pre-lit dog, and then grew into what you see today. What you may not know is the story behind the display

First is the “Dog Sled”. The sled itself come from my wife’s childhood. It had been stored in our garage for many years. We were developing a small collection of dogs, and then the idea came, why do we add the sled to the display an put the dogs on top it. So a small ramp was built, and the Dog Sled was born

If you look closely at the dogs, you will notice several of them have names. They are named after the Golden Retrievers that have been a part of our family over the years. Four of the names dogs have passed away, the fifth is our current dog. A story about each dog is below. You may also see some cats on the display, plus some fun snowmen as well as additional dogs all having fun!

2024 there were changes made. The tobaggen we had been using was over 60 years old, and had been used in our display fro over 5 years, the wood finally gave out, to is was replaced by the three dogs are now in a sledding race. The image here is of the new hill with Falmse still yelling at them that they are going to die on that hill.

The named Dogs

Flame

Decoration acquired: 2019

Life: 1990-2005

Flame was our first golden retriever

Flame did not like when we went snow sledding, apparently she still doesn’t

Learn about the real Flame Here

Cinnamon

Decoration acquired: 2018

Life: 2004-2017

We adopted Cinnamon from Craigslist. She was a fiesty one

Learn more about the real Cinnamon here

Nikki

Decoration acquired: ??

Life: 1998-2009

We adopted Nikki as a senior dog. She was a sweet girl with beautiful eyes

Learn more about the real Nikki here

Rusty (with Freddie)

Decoration acquired: ??

Life: 2006-2017

Rusty was best buds with Cinnamon. He was afraid of our cat Freddie at the time

Learn more about the real Rusty here, and Freddie here

Dylan

Decoration acquired: 2020

Life: 2016 –

Our current dog, also adopted from Craigslist. He loves to play!

Learn more about the real Dylan here

The North Pole – Salem Golden Spike Ceremony

This display started when Costco has a steam train deocaration in 2018. It was a bit spendy, but I decided it was unique enough, and I’m a railfan, so I got it. Later in the Christmas season Costco marked down the train by over 50%. So I decided to get a second one with the idea of a golden spike ceremony. That display came into being in 2019. Rudoplh is driving the train from the North pole, and a puppy is driving the one from Salem.

The two penguins had been in our light display for years, acquired in 2010 (from Costco). In 2013, the two penguins were stolen from the display, among some other vandalism. I was able to acquire exact replacements in newer condition from Craiglist. The following year I institute cable locks on most of the display. The Penguins then moved to the Dog sled, before becoming part of the Golden Spike ceremony in 2019.

Ceremony Participants

The Penguins

Date Acquired: 2011, 2013

The original penguins were stolen in 2013. Found exact replacements via Craigslist

The North Pole Train

Date Acquired: 2018

Rudoplph is driving this train from the North pole. We had one train on display the first year. Rudolph had been on display for a few years prior.

The Salem Train

Date Acquired: 2018, Added 2019

A puppy is driving the Salem train. The second train was purchased on clearance from Costco (50% the cost of the first train from Costco), and displayed the following year.

The Deer PArk

This is how the display started, with a couple of innocent deer in the mid 1990s and it grew from there. The two original deer still survive, although there motors no longer work, and the lights have been re-strung several times over the years.