FLORENCE — One of the region’s largest holiday attractions — Santa’s Trains at Look Park — was born out of a newspaper clip and developed from the idea of a “child’s Christmas.”

Originally known as Santa’s Workshop, Santa’s Trains opened its doors on Thursday for a 50th holiday season in which organizers are expecting to draw as many as 25,000 people over its 11-day run. Look Park officials are commemorating Santa’s Trains roots by celebrating the theme that served as the venue’s foundational vision, which is the “The beauty, spirit, and simplicity of a child’s Christmas.”

Brian Elliot, who served as park superintendent from 1970-2002, can’t remember where he got those words that would serve as the credo for his undertaking to bring the North Pole to Paradise City — but he does remember it was a newspaper clip out of Torrington, Connecticut, that sparked the idea for a local holiday mecca.

“I thought it was a great idea,” Elliot said, and in the summer of 1974 he got to work, motivated to give parents the opportunity to give their kids a less consumerist version of the holiday.

“I think there were a lot of disgruntled parents in the era of expensive photos with a mall Santa,” he said.

He set out to develop a venue “with no commercialism and nothing to buy ... there was even no parking fee back in the day.”

The Pancake House on the Look Park property was deemed the “perfect” place. The cabin had been built by the Civil Works Administration under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, and in 1957 received its name. “It was extremely popular by the lake there. And beautiful,” said Elliot.

“I remember we had 7,500 people the first year. It was off to a great start” — a start that took community engagement to get needed materials for opening day in 1974.

Money being a primary concern for a venue that would open free to the public, Elliot sought help from Paul Walker, executive director for the Northampton chamber of commerce at the time. The two soon started a campaign to publicize the endeavor, and donations started to funnel in, but the Pancake House required a holiday makeover.

Elliot studied the intricacies and history of Santa costumes and acquired one of high quality, and those for the elves were contributed by Elliot’s wife, Astrid, who made their smocks. The elves, said Elliot, were “complete with yak hair mustaches” that he added were glued to the annoyance of the high school students who volunteered their time that first year.

Bunk beds and workbenches for the elves were drawn up and donated by Peter Paine Woodworking.

In an era before bluetooth, Elliot had to tape hours of Christmas music. Ranging from popular Christmas songs to recordings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Elliot said the music was necessary to add to the ambience in a room already warm with a fireplace (and by a propane furnace last minute), with mechanical trains and villages, wrapped packages under trees, and the sounds of tapping hammers from the elves at their benches.

“When the kids walked up the elves would show them what they’re making. They had to always be tapping. It had to sound like Santa’s workshop,” he said, and reminisced that the tapping was another aspect of being an elf he remembers volunteers being mildly annoyed by.

With the help of many other community partners, a whole collection of holiday relics filled the room. A 1987 fire leveled the Pancake House, which fortunately did not have the decorations for Santa’s workshop in it at the time, forced a new era for Santa’s Workshop, which was hastily moved to LP Steamer Station but continued its “no fee” mission nonetheless.

“We were fortunate. Everything woulda burned up,” said Elliot.

Each year welcomes a new theme, said Sheri Walker, a member of Look Park’s board of directors for the last 30 years and Paul Walker’s daughter. This year’s theme, to celebrate the golden anniversary of Santa’s Trains, is the original vision for Paradise City’s North Pole: “The beauty, spirit, and simplicity of a child’s Christmas.”

To reflect additional activities surrounding the workshop, the venue was renamed to Santa’s Trains 15 years ago when Santa’s Workshop was moved to the Garden House in the park.

But the ritual remains the same, even 50 years later. At the door, guests get their ticket punched, and they receive a seek and find list to spot the miscellaneous people and places displayed in the full room Christmas village on display. The sleigh that Elliot found in Vermont is no longer “parked out back,” said Walker, and because of its age is now indoors.

“We used to tell the kids Santa is parked out back,” she reminisced.

In its first year, kids received a toothbrush from Santa, which the next year was replaced with the gift of an apple — a tradition that still stands.

The naughty and nice list remains on the elves’ desk, who ask “Have you been good all year?” Elliot said that since its earliest days this has often met the shock of kids nervous to see if they made it to the good list before heading over to Santa’s throne.

“You should have seen the look on those kids’ faces,” he said with a laugh.

Newer aspects of the venue include an outdoor marketplace, which features various local vendors selling under tents, and even a bar with holiday-themed adult beverages (all for charge).

The rooms of the Garden House are lined with trees, each of them a sponsor tree representing the 40 or so corporate sponsors who make the trains possible. There are typically anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000 contributed by the various sponsors and donors and since the venue costs relatively little put on, those funds are funneled directly back into the park. Santa’s Trains is the largest fundraising event for the private park, supplying a quarter of the park’s development budget.

“This is not possible without the financial support of our sponsors. We rely on our business and community partners,” said Justin Pelis, Look Park’s executive director, who added that donations are not limited to monetary contributions, but are often, “Tangible products that are a part of it as opposed to just donating.”

Tandem Bagel, for example, donates elves by providing some of their staff to work in Santa’s workshop. Rides on the Look Park Express are charged at a rate of $5 a ride, with the train being donated by 1812 Auto Body in Florence.

“This keeps the parking operating especially during the winter months,” said Pelis, mentioning also the over 100 volunteers who participate over the course of a single holiday season. There are eight to nine volunteers a night, and a number of volunteers also help to put up and take down the decorations in the Garden House.

Wendy Ellerbrook is part of a team of volunteers that has helped set up the Garden House this year for the opening of Santa’s Trains. About the experience, she shared: “Its magical. It keeps me in the Christmas spirit, and I am helping in my own little way,” she said.

This year, 25,000 participate are anticipated to participate over the 11 days Santa’s Train will be open. Those days include Dec. 12-15 and Dec. 18-23 from 4 to 8 p.m., and Christmas Eve when Santa’s Trains will be open from 9 a.m. to noon.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com