Cal Poly students construct massive, motorized Advent calendar for Christmas Market
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - A team of Cal Poly engineering students created another dazzling Christmas display for this year's Cambria Christmas Market in December.
The Cambria Pines Lodge requested the students to construct this display back in March and the team decided on a giant Advent calendar shortly after.
"What they said was, 'We want an Advent calendar, and it should look like a German village,'" said Lee McFarland, a Cal Poly mechanical engineering lecturer and faculty advisor for the project.
The students worked on the calendar for eight months, and will be completing it by the market's opening day on Friday, Nov. 29.
Cal Poly said the motorized calendar is roughly 14 feet tall, 20 feet long and 4 feet deep and will feature 25 days represented by boxes.
"Each box contains a playful diorama, which includes: a shooting star, a polar bear snow globe, Santa’s workshop, an ice skater, a hula dancer, and other animated scenes of the season. Seventeen boxes feature moving parts, and all play music related to the respective diorama," Cal Poly said in a news release.
“They get to apply what they have learned throughout their education to a specific project,” said Peter Schuster, a mechanical engineering professor. “The experience forces them to dive deeper into topics in order to get the job done, just as they will as engineering professionals.”
The Cambria Pines Lodge has recruited Cal Poly engineering students to create Christmas-themed projects for them in the past.
One of the lodge's most popular projects is a former Cal Poly creation: a 12 Days of Christmas display that has been a feature of the market since its presentation about five years ago.
Mike Arnold, the market’s coordinator, said this year's Advent calendar display will be located near the Santa House for guests to enjoy while they wait to meet Santa at the Christmas Market.
The market will run from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 29 through Dec. 23 at the Cambria Pines Lodge located at 2905 Burton Dr.
For more information about the Cambria Christmas Market, click here.
