Findlay Market Photo: Hailey Bollinger

This holiday season, Findlay Market has brought back a beloved and classic Cincinnati Christmas tradition: the Shillito’s Elves.

These mechanical elf dolls have been around the Queen City for years and through the end of the year, the elves will be on display at the old Leader Furniture Store in Findlay Market. 

From the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, the Shillito’s department store served as a home for two different generations of holiday elves. In the beginning, Shillito’s visual merchandising department refurbished other department stores’ holiday displays each year, making the outsider elves and Christmastime tableaus their own. But in 1979, after two decades, the downtown department store breathed new life into its elaborate holiday exhibit with a fresh family of locally handcrafted elves.

But by 1983, the elves disappeared, marking the end of a nearly 30-year Cincinnati holiday tradition. Shillito’s became Lazarus and eventually moved. And the storefront windows on Seventh and Race streets, which still exist, became home to creative displays from businesses like the branding agency Landor instead of mechanized elves.

The collection of elves on display this year at Findlay are provided by artist Mark Trierweiler. According to Findlay Market, Trierweiler “worked with Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI) in the mid-90s, where he famously installed Santa’s Toy Factory on Fountain Square, and he made many of the large floats for the Downtown Holiday Parade, including the Giant Toy Robot, loved by so many kids.” 

Trierweiler got his hand on some of the elf displays when they went into retirement, and was able to show them at the Westin Hotel in the early 2000s and then later at Carew Tower. 

These Shillito’s Elves have been “hibernating” since, but six magical vignettes have been set up at the market: the Mail Sorter, Little Woodshop, Pete the Painter, Lazzie Bear and Gift Wrap, Elves at Home and Bedtime Elves.

Trierweiler says he “feels a responsibility to the beloved tradition and cannot wait to bring the magic to Findlay Market,” per a release.

The elves are facing out from their home in the Leader Furniture storefront and will be animated on weekends. See them during market hours 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 31. 

Findlay Market is located at 1801 Race St., Over-the-Rhine. Find more information at findlaymarket.org.         

 

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This article appears in Nov 24 – Dec 7, 2021.