VERNON — There is a small village in Waukesha County that has been growing every year. There are thousands of residents and new homes go up all the time. Yet, most people have never heard of it. Introducing Lake Dianne.
It's a giant Christmas village on the bottom floor of Dianne and Ken Obermann's home. Dianne is the mayor and Ken is the director of the Department of Public Works. They have been building this Christmas village since 1994. It has grown a little every year.
In 2024, the village has 110 houses, thousands of residents, and 5,000-10,000 trees.
“You know, it’s like therapy. You get to sit back, and you get to design. I love doing it. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love doing it," Dianne Obermann said.
There are ski hills, sledding hills, multiple ice skating rinks, an apothecary, kids making snow angels, a windmill, a grocery store, a ferry, a popcorn wagon, a farm, a hockey rink, ice skate rentals, a hospital, a school, churches, a lake, a bakery, a toy store, and so much more. Of course, you have to have a train, and my favorite building — shoutout to the journalists at the Colonial Village News.
Putting together this mini metropolis has been a staple of the Obermann family for 30 years.
“Tradition. It’s a family tradition. The kids love it. Ken and I enjoy setting it up every year, and I want to do it as long as I can," Obermann said.
I covered the village two years ago. It has grown considerably since 2022. In fact, the Obermann's brought an engineer to their home to see if they could get a pole removed to expand the village even more.
“Actually, we talked to an engineer to get the post out of the way to give us more room, and that ain’t happening, so we still got to work around the post," Obermann said.
That is a little ironic since they built this home literally with the village in mind. Now, their own design is hindering them.
“Not in a million years did I think it would be this big and this fabulous," Obermann said.
Beneath the village are tons of wires and extension cables. It only takes a few weeks to set up and just about 18 hours to take down.
So far, the Obermann's have no plan to stop. Eventually, the Obermanns hope their kids split up the village among themselves as keepsakes.
“I don’t expect any of my kids to go to this magnitude, but I do want them to each take at least half a dozen or more and just put it up and go, ‘Let me show you pictures of your crazy grandma.’”
Crazy? Maybe. But she does it for her family, and that’s not crazy at all.
Among the many residents of Lake Dianne are two hidden Where's Waldo figurines. Watch the story to see if you can spot one of them. I included one Waldo that is hiding in plain sight. Hint: Look closely at the skiers.
Watch the video to see if you can spot Waldo...
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