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Do you remember visiting the pixies in Santa's Grotto in the DIC department store? This beloved part of the Dunedin Christmas experience is on show at the Otago Settlers Museum in the lead up to Christmas.

Pixie Town is not unique to Dunedin. Mr Fred Jones of Nelson began developing Magic Caves and Pixie Towns in the 1930s, opening his first Magic Cave in a Nelson store in 1933. It proved popular and Magic Caves and Pixie Towns began to be built for department stores elsewhere. They also began to be toured to carnivals throughout New Zealand and overseas.

Around 1963 Mr Joe O'Connell purchased three sets and continued the tradition of touring them around the country. Then the oil shortages of the 1970s made touring difficult and Mr O'Connell sold his Pixie Towns to the DIC chain of department stores, which had established a long association as the home of Pixie Town at Christmas each year.

Thus Pixie Town continued to be a well-loved part of the Christmas experience for many residents until the DIC closed its doors in the late 1980s

The Otago Settlers Association acquired some of the units from the closed Dunedin DIC. Restoration of the units began in 2004, enabling children of today to still enjoy this part of Dunedin's Christmas tradition.