Christmas villages display brings good cheer to Arlington Heights pub

This time of year, patrons of Peggy Kinnane's Irish Restaurant & Pub in downtown Arlington Heights ask to be seated near the windows.

Not just to see the hustle and bustle of shoppers, but to experience its annual holiday tradition: the charming Christmas villages that light up its 15 windows.

In all, they number more than 40 and range from traditional Dickens houses and snow villages, to an Irish pub, naturally, an ice palace, drive-in movie theater, and even Elvis' home, Graceland, decked out for the holidays.

Each house is lit and features moving characters set in snow-filled holiday scenes that are as intricate as they are iconic.

In fact, Peggy's co-owner Michele Hanley says the display takes more than 20 hours to put up, and she does it single-handedly. Early in November, she starts at 5 p.m. on a Sunday and works through the night to assemble and wire all the villages.

"Everything is numbered," Hanley says. "I've labeled each piece, down to the trees, so I can get it just right."

She describes it as a labor of love, and her patrons agree. The iconic houses have been warming their hearts for 10 years, but increasingly they want to know the story behind them.

It probably comes as no surprise that the villages were donated by longtime customers of the restaurant. Harry and Helen O'Kane of Arlington Heights started dining there nearly after it opened in 2001.

"Basically, one Irishman learns of a restaurant that another Irishman has opened in the town and he goes to check it out," says their daughter, Catherine Lyon of Palatine.

"An instant relationship developed. They went there every Sunday after Mass for brunch, and when their children came to visit, that's where we all went for dinner."

When the couple downsized, Helen O'Kane, a former art teacher at St. Viator High School, asked the Hanleys if they would accept her collection of Christmas villages. With more than 40 houses, the group was too big for any of her children.

"At first, I was so nervous that I wasn't putting them up correctly," Michele Hanley says. "I wanted to make sure she was happy with it."

By all accounts, Helen O'Kane was. She enjoyed the windows herself as a patron until 2012, when she passed away. Her husband, a successful trial attorney in Chicago, died in 2016.

"Their gift has become so impactful," Hanley says. "We're hearing of more and more families making it a part of their holiday tradition. It brings such joy to people, especially to children. You should see their faces light up!"

Lyon sees the impact firsthand in her second-grade classroom at Holy Family Catholic Academy in Inverness.

"It's really awesome when my students tell me about eating at a place with these awesome villages in a window," Lyon says. "And then I tell them that was my mom's and I grew up with them."

Carol Anderson of Inverness was one of those patrons who asked the Hanleys about the story behind their windows. As a former colleague of O'Kane's at St. Viator, she was delighted to learn of the family's donation.

"Mark and I were not surprised when we learned she gave her Christmas village to Peggy Kinnane's for all to enjoy," Anderson said. "We will always remember Helen's generous spirit in all she did."

Hanley says patrons seem to be drawn to the whimsy of the display, as well as the warmth and nostalgia it offers each holiday season.

"We're so blessed that she trusted us with it," Hanley says. "It's a beautiful legacy that Helen began, and one that makes a real connection with all of our customers."

A plaque dedicated to Helen O'Kane and her gift hangs on the wall near her collection. The villages will remain up through January for all to enjoy.