An animated piece of local history is making spirits bright at The Historic KM Building in downtown Kalispell this holiday season.

A mechanized Santa Claus display that entertained shoppers more than a half-century ago as a window display at the former Kalispell Mercantile building is back in action — literally.

KM Building owner Bill Goodman has fully restored the inner workings of the figurines, which are set up in the north hallway of the mercantile building.

“It was very low-tech work,” Goodman said. “It’s a little motor with bicycle gear drives.”

One end of the display features Santa interacting with a seal spinning a present on its nose. On the other end a Santa pulls a puppy out of a Christmas stocking while another puppy wags its tail. There’s a moving piglet, too.

The figurines were made by Hugh Hockaday, the prominent artist for whom the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell is named. The Hockaday owns the display and has it on loan to the KM Building, where it is stored year-round.

Hugh Hockaday, who lived from 1892 to 1968, gained national recognition for his mechanized window displays, one of which was made for the world-famous Wall Drug Store in South Dakota.

The Santa display originally was featured at Marshall Field’s department stores in Chicago during the 1950s and graced the windows of the Kalispell Mercantile during the Christmas season for years until the mercantile was converted to an office building.

Today the building features a mix of more than 25 retail and office-based businesses, along with a restaurant.

Goodman and his wife, Jana, purchased the KM Building in 1997 and began restoring the 1894 building. The restoration involved stripping away the exterior stucco-like facade applied in the early 1960s and preserving the original brick facade.

The building has been a cornerstone in downtown Kalispell since it began as the Missoula Mercantile, back when Kalispell was part of Missoula County. The structure housed the city’s first courtroom and also served as City Hall for several years around the turn of the 20th century.

The hallway that traverses the interior of the KM Building is adorned with huge wall-mounted historical photographs of Kalispell. Goodman said the photographs draw visitor traffic year-round.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.