Myer ambassador, Jennifer Hawkins, Myer CEO, Richard Umbers, and Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle, will officially unveil the department store’s Christmas window display in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall today.

The windows will showcase an animated tribute to Melbourne, based on the popular Australian children’s book, Little Dog and the Christmas Wish.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the windows, this year’s theme is set on Christmas Eve in 1956 and includes many of Melbourne’s most iconic sites such as Flinders Street Station, the Block Arcade, the Hopetoun Tea Rooms and the Skipping Girl Vinegar neon sign in Richmond. The windows also feature many 1950s references including the W Class Trams, Holden vintage cars, a horse-drawn bakery cart, and more than 130 characters dressed in fashions from the era.

“This year marks a very special occasion as we celebrate the 60th season of the Myer Christmas animated windows,” said Myer CEO, Richard Umbers.

“It’s been a longstanding tradition for generations of families to see the visit Myer Melbourne every Christmas and this year we’re expecting more than 1.2 million visitors from Victoria, interstate and around the world.”

For the past 21 years, John Kerr and his team at Stage One have been responsible for the Myer Christmas animated windows, from the inspiration to the installation, in an 11 month process with 30 artisans contributing more than 17,000 hours of work to bring this year’s story to life.

“As a proud Melbourne man, no other Christmas theme for the windows has excited me more than Little Dog and the Christmas Wish. This was the perfect opportunity to present a uniquely Australian Christmas and celebrate the 60-year tradition of the Myer Christmas animated windows, and I am so pleased we have created a fitting replica of marvellous Melbourne,” said Kerr.

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