Where's Marty? Appreciating the Train Garden of the Shops at Kenilworth

Hi Everyone!

It is "Train Garden" week on "Where's Marty?" 

A while back I was talking to K2 about doing something festive the week before Christmas and the answer was SO obvious.

Let's visit the model train set-up known as "Train Gardens."  

I am sure the "Train Garden" is not a holiday event exclusive to the Baltimore area. But I do know there are many iconic "Train Gardens" in the Baltimore area where generations of families have stopped by to enjoy and watch the children, big and little, marvel!

There is something about model trains placed in scenes of Wintertime magic, and holiday good vibes. 

And kicking the idea around we came up with five iconic ones. They are displays people from surrounding areas drive to see.

AGAIN, there are many around, and these made the cut due to being iconic. It is not a list of who's the best and biggest. 

So here we go. 

Currently known as the "Shops at Kenilworth," this suburban shopping mall on Kenilworth Drive, just off of York Road and the Beltway, has been known in the past as "The Kenilworth Mall" and "Kenilworth Bazaar." 

It may have had different names but for nearly 40 years it has always been home to a fantastic holiday train display. (By the way the newly repurposed "Shops at Kenilworth" is a  home run. Just a great job done, in and out, with many new stores. Really nice! For more info surf here.

The year "Train Garden" started out as a brand new idea in October. 

The curator told us it needs to look different yearly, and that is the challenge. And why it takes so many weeks to pull it off. It is long, more so than wide, and do you see the button to the lower right? 

By pushing it different lights come on. There are a lot of those buttons and the kids love it.

For the past few years, different stores have sponsored a scavenger hunt based on objects in the "Train Garden."  

This year, "The Mine," a new local multi-studio gym, stepped up as the sponsor. (It is a really slick-looking facility, and the "gym rat" in me is really wanting to give it a workout. Here is their website. 

Children find 40 objects, fill out a form and get entered into a $500 shopping spree contest.

The "Shops at Kenilworth" "Garden"  is a big-league child interactive event. And, again, its history is decades old. 

Sharon and I took our children there yearly, and I can't wait to take my granddaughters there when Quinn, and Nell, get a bit older.

There is just something about Christmas lights and model trains.

Tomorrow we head to "the 22", and a "Train Garden" that has defined a community's Christmas for decades, and decades, and decades, and decades…you get the idea!

Marty B!