A few families in the Hunters Park neighborhood created Dunedinville during the pandemic when the only way to roam Bentleyville was by car. This past weekend, they gathered for the fifth year in a row, celebrating the holiday season in multiple yards. The gathering has grown since its first iteration and now includes its own website, podcast, origin story, board game, theme songs, live music and a comic book. The celebration is “famous for its killer sled tracks, fueled by in-house ice and snow-making capabilities.” Check out some of their slick slopes, light fixtures and moments from this year.

Katie Jones, a resident in one of the homes that hosts Dunedinville said her favorite part about the event is the kids. “We have two girls and so do the other neighbors — they each have two girls.” Jones said the kids are “kind of getting to grow up in a ’90s neighborhood. They basically get to run around the neighborhood and do whatever they want and we don’t have to worry a whole lot. They’re buddies. They get to build snow forts and go exploring in the woods.”

“Basically the whole premise is a gathering of neighbors,” Jones said. “So the little girls walk around and hand out invitations to all the neighbors in the area and it’s been a nice way to meet new neighbors that we’ve never met.”

Jenean O’Brian said her partner, Troy, started Dunedinville because he felt people were too isolated during the pandemic. “His mom had just passed away and we were feeling kind of alone,” she said.

Since it was still safe enough for a few families to gather outside, they got to work with a few other houses. “The girls hand out invitations to the whole neighborhood,” O’Brian said.

O’Brian said the event has become more elaborate each year. “That first year we just had a few weeks, so it was fairly simple,” she said. “But now it’s something that the three families think about all year and we even started going out for ‘camp Dunedinville.’ So the three families go camping in the summer and start brainstorming.”

A small herd of illuminated deer marked the start of the path to the rainbow pond.

A trail of mason jars filled with different colored lights lead the path over to the rainbow pond.

A skate-able rainbow pond for sliding around in boots or skates.

Troy Abfalter put together a website and Go Big, Then Go Bigger, the official podcast of Dunedinville. “I had my friend Luke Moravec co-host it. He’s the morning host of 103.3 The North, and an old friend of mine. […] Sometimes it’s just the two of us, but what’s really fun is to bring other folks onto the show. The Dunedinville six pack, which are our kids, have come on the show twice now. In fact, the last podcast … they ran it. We just passed the dial onto them and my two daughters became the podcast hosts, which was fun … and a little chaotic,” Abfalter said.

The treehouses in the Dunedinville backyards were all outlined in string lights.

Dunedinville sports many mounds for sledding.

“The Dunedinville night is one night. Three hours. And it’s super fun to have a bunch of people out. And it’s also really fun to spend the 6-8 weeks beforehand setting it up. There’s just been so many adventures with the neighbors,” Abfalter said.

“Some of the setups are pretty easy, pretty standard, same thing from year to year. But other times you’re trying to figure out how to solve a certain puzzle.” Pointing across to the row of trees leading to the rainbow pond, Abfalter said, “I had to figure out how to get those up in the trees.” Describing another obstacle that came up, he shared, “two days ago, my neighbor Ben was test-flying his drone to take some pictures tonight and he got stuck about 50 feet up in a pine tree. So we had to figure out how to get that down. We had ladders, climbing harnesses. We haven’t had a problem that we can’t solve.”

Troy hands out cake after attendees sang happy birthday to his father, who just turned 75.

The collaborative and community aspects are the biggest part of Dunedinville for Abfalter, too. “It’s just super fun to throw an idea out there and then see where it goes with other people, and how they take it and run with it and add their ideas. And it’s just really adventurous and community building.”

Different houses provided different type of treats. Between the three homes, cookies, candy canes and hot chocolate were available to Dunedinville visitors.

To find more information about Dunedinville, listen to the podcast, find instructions for the board game and learn about its origin story, visit dunedinville.org.