Carver’s Edaville Still Has Beloved Vintage Holiday Decorations Stored Away

Edaville in Carver, Massachusetts is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and we recently took a peek into its past and we’ve got all the photos to spark up your nostalgia.

Earlier this year, Edaville was put up for sale, but owner Jon Delli Priscoli opted instead to take it off the market and put it in the hands of a new team. Managing Partner Shervin Hawley and Operations Partner Brian Fanslau, along with Hannah Miller, are now running the park and bringing back a lot of Edaville’s history while building toward its future.

Likewise, new gift shop operator Ron Besse has incorporated some classic Edaville designs into his product offerings, and of course his shop is fully stocked with the requisite engineer caps and wooden train whistles.

With a new pricing structure this year, it’s a safe bet many will be visiting Edaville for the first time in a long time, and will notice that some of their favorite decorations have been retired.

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It’s hard to find anyone who loves Edaville that doesn’t also have a soft spot for some of its classic decorations from its days of yore. Who can forget the mouse family from “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?” What about the window box featuring the elf gathering all the letters to Santa from the mailbox? And who could forget Santa Claus taking a bubble bath?

Sadly, some of the decorations left the park when it closed in the late 1990s, purchased by private collectors who added them to their own holiday displays. For years, a gentleman on Route 3A in Sandwich featured vintage Edaville decorations in his yard.

Some of the decorations have also been displayed outside the park on loan from Edaville. During the pandemic, when the park was forced to close, a West Wareham man who worked at the park brought home some of its most recognizable decorations to put in his yard and share some of the Festival of Lights with his neighbors.

We visited Edaville on Opening Day for a radio broadcast and snuck off for a bit to explore some of the areas of the park that aren’t open to the public, and discovered a treasure trove of Edaville history worth of its own museum.

Take a trip back in time with us and see park decorations of the past.