LUVERNE, M.N. (Dakota News Now) – Currently, the largest nutcracker statue in the world is located in Neuhausen, Germany, standing at 33 feet tall.
Luverne, Minnesota, is looking to break that record with a soon-to-be-completed 65-foot-tall nutcracker statue.
The hope is that it will attract out-of-towners, to see this jaw-dropping monument and visit the Rock County History Center where nutcrackers outnumber the population of the town.
“So, we wanted to increase tourism and so we hired this consultant, he came and we asked him. His premise is that small towns only have a marketing budget for one thing. We asked him, what was our one big thing? He said nutcrackers. So, we’ve been all in trying to work on nutcrackers. His number one goal, he said ‘You will turn the town around if you have the biggest of something,’” said Jane Lanphere with the Luverne Area Chamber.
Katie Walgrave is a member of the non-profit called Just For Nuts, which was exclusively established to raise money for the statue. Her family owns the site where the statue will be erected at their gift shop, Those Blasted Things.
“We have this large pole already, so we had a nice stable internal structure for this nutcracker. When it’s built, it’s literally going to be visible from the interstate, so it’s like a billboard that just keeps on giving,” said Walgrave.
Currently, the statue is being assembled in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the hope of being in place by early 2025. Until then, the 14-foot tall boots offer a glimpse of what’s to come and that is already drumming up excitement.
“It’s surprising the amount of people that come in and say ‘Oh I can’t wait for this, this is so fun. I can’t believe we get to be a part of this.’ We have a ton of people that stop in who are vacationing and just cannot wait to see this nutcracker come out, they’re excited. They go down and visit the history center and then they get even more excited. They say ‘We’re coming back next year, we can’t wait to see this finished,’” said Walgrave.
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