My District: Is Home to the World's Largest Year-Round Christmas Store.

• Author: Rassenfoss, Joe
• Position: Frankenmuth, Michigan

The quaint town of Frankenmuth, Mich., boasts charming Bavarian-style architecture, a walkable downtown and a warm family atmosphere. And this time of year, the pace picks up mightily in town thanks to Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the enormous holiday store that sprawls across more than two acres.

Fact is, the pace never really slows much at Christmas Wonderland, which can safely claim the title of the world's largest year-round Christmas store, thanks to founder Wally Bronner, who launched the retailer as a storefront in 1945 and just kept building.

Everything about Bronner's is big. An estimated 2 million people visit annually--as many as 50,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend--while about 100,000 lights shine outside from dusk to dawn. (Bronner's estimates its electric bill at about $450,000 per year.) The staff personalizes 400,000 of the 2 million ornaments purchased annually, and visitors can browse decorations and gifts from 35 nations. All of which means that even though the Bronner's parking lot accommodates nearly 1,500 cars, late arrivers this time of year must find parking somewhere on the grass of the 27-acre lot on which the store sits. (Master your Bronner's trivia here.)

Amazingly, Bronner's isn't the only outsize business in this town of 5,000, which was settled in 1845 and is located 90 minutes northwest of Detroit. Zehnder's, a restaurant run by its namesake family since 1927, boasts seating for 1,500 hungry visitors (nearly a million annually) eager to dig into all-you-can-eat, family-style chicken dinners. Another branch of the Zehnder family runs the nearby Bavarian Inn, which seats 1,200. Both restaurants are connected to hotels, which offer amenities ranging from golf to water parks.

We caught up with Sen. Ken Horn (R) and Rep. Rodney Wakeman (R) to talk about Bronner's and other attractions in Frankenmuth.

Did you grow up in Frankenmuth?

Wakeman: I grew up in the area (born in nearby Saginaw), but my parents were born there. My grandfather moved there after World War II and in 1947 built and ran the only movie theater in town, the Ken. Many people I know still talk about their memories of the theater, even though it is no longer there. I am very proud to have that connection to the town.

Horn: My parents emigrated from Germany, they fled the Berlin Wall, and came to Detroit (where) I grew up. In 1979 I was laid off, and so I looked around and decided that I would apply in Frankenmuth at the Bavarian Inn, where I...