Visitors to the Warren County Museum have had a treat for the last several years in the form of a fully mapped out Christmas village diorama as they enter the facilityeach holiday season.

The village is a labor of love that began in the early 1980s.

Creator Marilyn Owenby said she started painting in Dixie Laymon’s basement in 1982.

Owenby said over the years she collected a number of pieces that now are prominently displayed in the village over the years. While the village does have Warrenton names and a few local landmarks, Owenby said it isn’t meant to directly represent Warrenton.

One of the buildings prominently displayed in the village is the former Warren County Courthouse, which Owenby said she painted to match the color of the original historic courthouse.

The village also includes a number of smaller figurines that depict people and animals. Owenby said some of the figurines are ones she has purchased herself, but many come from friends and family who have provided figurines over the years to fill out the village. One example is a bear that she says sits in a knot in a tree to depict a bear that walked through the bottom of Hopewell Hill.

Owenby said as the village grew she had an idea to exhibit it each year at the museum. She said she has been a volunteer at the museum for 16 years and one year pitched the idea of exhibiting her work. She said representatives from the museum came out to her house to view her work and eventually her village became a yearly staple at the museum.

“It is something to do,” Owenby said of her work on the village. “I like to work with my hands and it keeps me busy.”

Owenby said that while many pieces did come from family and friends, she also spends a lot of time going to ceramic shops and yard sales.

“It is very time consuming,” she said of her work to acquire new pieces for her village.

Owenby noted that one of the things that can be difficult to find are ceramic barns, which as her village has a rural theme is a very important part of the overall feel of the village.

One of the things she said kids enjoy about the village is finding all the little treasures she leaves for them to find, especially the animals. She said there is one scene of a turtle that came from one of her grandchildren. Another depicts a little girl feeding deer with a bottle. She even has fox, moose, raccoons and a lion, who stands guard near the farm, watching the chickens.

She said that she hasn’t painted for a couple of years due to the taxing nature of the work, but she is always on the lookout for more pieces to add to the village.