Christmas is over, but a group of local volunteers is already planning next year’s holiday season in Luverne.
The concept of “Luverne Nutcracker Village” is under consideration following Betty Mann’s donation of more than 2,400 nutcrackers to the Rock County Historical Society.
“These are all sizes — from 6 feet tall to the size of your fingernail, and their little mouths open and close,” said Luverne Chamber Director Jane Wildung Lanphere.
For Mann, the gesture was about making Luverne a destination.
“I think it’s going to be fantastic and I think it’s something that will draw people to Luverne,” said Mann, who regularly offers tours — once a busload of people — of her nutcracker collection in her home.
“They come and they see my collection and then they go downtown for shopping.”
The nutcrackers will be housed at the new History Center, which is under construction in the old Ford Motor building on Main Street and will be displayed year-round.
When asked if it will be hard to part with her collection, Mann said, “I don’t feel like I’m parting with them, because I have a key to the History Center, and I can go and see them whenever I feel like it.”
She added that she hopes the nutcrackers will help draw people inside the new History Center. “We need to get people here and see what we’ve got,” she said.
Lanphere said Mann’s collection could be a tourism draw to Luverne as “home of the Midwest’s largest nutcracker collection.”
But for Christmas, Lanphere said there’s potential for a community-wide nutcracker theme with life-sized nutcrackers displayed at the city park and at homes and businesses.
The idea came from Steubenville, Ohio, where the community built and decorated 30 life-sized nutcrackers for display in the town square.
In addition, some businesses displayed nutcrackers in the theme of their work. For example, the one at the bakery had a baker’s hat. The band director’s nutcracker had a musical theme.
“Who knows? Take 16 could have a beer mister nutcracker,” Lanphere said. “For the success of this, we want everyone to take this theme to their homes and businesses — with nutcracker curtains, window clings, lights …. We want to try to get to the point where we’re all nutty.”
The wooden nutcrackers can be ordered plain, and then hand-painted for specific themes. In Steubenville, a local crafter makes and sells them, and Lanphere has ordered one to be delivered to Luverne.
Ordering plain wooden nutcrackers costs $50 to $300, and Lanphere said she has instructions available on how to construct them from many different kinds of materials.
Plans call for Luverne’s holiday nutcrackers to be displayed at the city park, which could be lighted and decorated. Visitors will be able to tune their radios to a local frequency that plays Tchaikovsky’s classic “Nutcracker” Christmas ballet music while they drive through the park.
Public works supervisor John Stoffel said he could arrange for snow to be removed at the park to allow public viewing of the nutcrackers during the holidays.
Lanphere said this year’s work will focus on getting businesses and the park to be part of the effort.
“Perhaps the following year we could encourage neighborhoods by lighting contests and etc. to decorate and become a Christmas destination,” she said.
The nutcracker idea was discussed at the Jan. 15 meeting of the design committee of LIFT (Luverne Initiatives For Tomorrow).
“There was great support from the group to move forward,” she said, adding that there are others outside of the committee interested in being part of the effort.
“A separate committee will start working on contacting major businesses in an effort to support this,” Lanphere said.
More information will be provided at the annual LIFT, Chamber and CVB social and celebration Monday night, Feb. 8, at the Palace Theatre. Call the Chamber, 283-4061, for ticket information.