It's snow place, like home

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Donna DePietro would like to live in the tiny village she creates every Christmas.
There's always snow for the holidays.
Children play perpetually, building snowmen and making snow angels.
Someone is always sitting on Santa's lap.
And there are churches and schools. But no funeral home and no cemetery.
The tiny village that began as a couple buildings beneath her mother's Christmas tree has seen a boom over the past 10 years.
Now, there are 45 buildings and its citizens are too numerous to count.
In years past, DePietro had let her village expand in her parent's home in the Brier Hill section of Youngstown's North Side. Her father died in 1999.
Soon after, the state took the home to make way for construction of the Route 711 connector.
Relocation: Now DePietro lives in a duplex, much smaller than the home she shared with her parents for 35 years. Her mother also lives in a small duplex. The village has been uprooted and transported to DePietro's basement. DePietro said the village has drawn her nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters and co-workers. It's her way of being creative and her favorite part is watching the expressions on others' faces.
New this year is an ocean (of blue lam & eacute;) and a dock filled with several sailors and fishermen. (Two take a break to play a game of checkers.)
Along the ocean's shore are a lounge, a fish company, a yacht club and the Sailor's Pub. (Watch out sailors, there's a cop car parked outside.)
Also new this year is the Brier Hill Manor, in honor of the family's native neighborhood.
Many of the buildings have links to family members and family memories.
The opera house and theater bring back memories of family trips to Canada to see "The Phantom of the Opera." The barber shop-salon commemorates her niece, a hairdresser. A greenhouse brings to mind her florist brother.
There's a print shop because DePietro works at City Printing in Youngstown. She's hoping to move a parchment and paper store next door for Christmas 2002. Then there's "Steve's Hideaway," a tree house. Steve is the fianc & eacute; of DePietro's niece.
And her father -- who loved Stambaugh's Hardware -- remains part of the village, too. In 1998, when the family learned he had cancer, a hardware store was added. In 1999, the year he died, a carpenter's shop went up; the carpenter stands outside.
Setup time: This year, DePietro began setting up the village Nov. 1. She worked on it until Dec. 15. Its fabric sky is filled with sparkling stars and snowflakes.
Skiers, snowboarders and sled riders come bounding down a fluffy white hill toward the ski lodge. Children spin on a merry-go-round at the playground; animals graze outside a barn. Children lead parents into a toy store, travelers carry baggage outside an inn.
An American flag waves before a clock tower. Christmas lights and lawn decorations dot the neighborhoods.
There's a bakery, a doctor's office, a fire station and the Daily Gazette. There are street vendors who peddle muffins, apples and Christmas wreaths.
While it takes DePietro weeks to create her village, the hard part comes after Christmas, when she has to take it down. Last year, the villagers held their posts until April.