By: Charity Meier | Troy Times | Published December 18, 2025
TROY — Troy Historic Village has been bustling with festive events this month.
More than 350 people attended Cocoa and Crafts with Santa Dec. 6-7, while the Village continued to draw crowds with its Victorian Christmas Dec. 12-13, where historical reenactors demonstrated holiday traditions as they would have occurred in the 1860s.
“We start working on this event as soon as Halloween is over,” said Alex Konieczny, the youth programs director at the Village, regarding Cocoa and Crafts with Santa.
Families could visit Santa and Mrs. Claus inside the Niles-Barnard House during the event.
“Santa and Mrs. Claus really love this event because they get to spend more time with the kids than they usually do,” Konieczny said in a statement. “It’s so much fun watching them telling kids a short story or talking about how the reindeer are hanging out at the Nature Center.”
In addition to hot cocoa and crafts, visitors could enjoy games and photo opportunities throughout other areas of the Village. The event was designed to accommodate visitors of all ages and abilities. Special needs were also kept in mind, with activities spaced throughout the Village for a more sensory-friendly experience, and quiet spaces were also available.
“We love using the Village as a space for community events like these throughout the year,” said Jen Peters, the Village’s executive director, in a statement. “It opens up our site to families who might be visiting for their first time and offers them a fun seasonal experience.”
The Victorian Christmas event, meanwhile, featured historical reenactors from Bonnets and Crooked Hats who moved into the Village for a weekend to live inside the historic homes as people would have done around the time of the Civil War.
The reenactors dressed in fashions appropriate for the era and engaged in meal preparation, games, decorating and celebrating Christmas like how it was done during the Victorian Era, stopping only to educate curious onlookers.
This year’s theme was “Christmas Eve & Christmas Day,” with reenactors dispensing knowledge of the traditions that typically fell on those two days, whether celebrating with family or with friends. Hot drinks were served, and stocking stuffers were available for purchase in the General Store. Visitors could also create paper ornaments to help decorate a tree in Town Hall.
For more information, visit troyhistoricvillage.org.