The museum is home to a massive collection of miniature Christmas houses and other memorabilia. Ray Iverson, the museum’s curator, said there are close to 500 of them.

Typically, all but the back room of the museum is home to trophies, uniforms and other pieces of history from the town, but when the holiday season arrives, Iverson puts on an impressive display that commandeers the entire building.

The process to transform the museum takes from early October to about the week before Thanksgiving, he said, noting he has other projects he works on during that time.

Iverson said the museum has been at its location on Main Street, across from the post office, for seven years. According to him, the previous owners moved to Bismarck and donated the building to the city. The previous owners left an assortment of Christmas miniatures which Iverson added to his own collection and placed on display.

Ben Pifher/MDN Ray Iverson stands in front of a miniature Walton’s 5-10. He said he found the miniature in Detroit Lakes, Minn., while on vacation and has never seen another.

Each year the museum grows, adding dozens of items through a combination of donations and Iverson’s own passion for collecting the minute buildings. The exhibit has a different theme each year, Iverson said,and this year’s theme is snowmen. Last year, he said, the theme was Santa Clauses, and next year’s is yet to be decided.

There’s a permanent display in the back room. On a recent day Iverson shut off the lights, completely changing its look and started a pair of trains which snaked their way past miniature farms and grocery stores to transport their cargo around the room.

Iverson got his start in collecting miniature houses when he saw a four-room display in a family member’s basement. He saw the display and “kinda fell in love with it,” he said. Eventually, his idea of setting up a similar display came to be what museum visitors enjoy today.

There are 410 Christmas trees in the museum in total, most of which are sized to match the miniature houses, but there are 12 full-sized trees placed throughout the exhibit. The 12 trees, representing the 12 days of Christmas, are decorated by FFA students from the school.

“They save me so much time,” Iverson said.

Ben Pifher/MDN The permanent Christmas display is shown at the Max Museum with the lights illuminated. Ray Iverson is in the background starting one of two trains which wind through the display.

Visitors from the museum cast votes for their favorite tree and the team who decorated the winning tree wins a prize.

Elementary students were lobbying each other to vote for their favorite tree, and excitedly pointing out their favorite exhibits.

“There are only two like (identical) items in here, only two,” Iverson said of the hundreds carefully arranged around the museum. Iverson said adults rarely find them.

“Grown ups all look at the houses,” Iverson said, examining one up close. “The kids come in here and find them right away because they look at the whole picture.”

In the otherwise holiday-themed museum, there are several pieces which have nothing to do with Christmas. Many people overlook the Halloween house displayed prominently, as well as several others with different themes, Iverson said.

One of the pieces, a replica of a Walton’s 5-10, is his favorite individual miniature display. The Walton’s 5-10 was the first store opened by Sam Walton, who later built Walmart, and is now its own museum.

Surveying the work he spends so much time on and gets so much enjoyment from, Iverson proudly said “Just about any type of business you can imagine is in here.”