Growing Destinations
Your go-to source for insightful discussions on destination development. The Growing Destinations podcast delves into the strategies, challenges, and successes that drive community growth. Each episode features in-depth conversations with local and national experts, uncovering universal themes and innovative practices that can be applied to any city or region.
Growing Destinations
The World’s Tallest Nutcracker in Luverne, Minnesota
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When you think about iconic attractions, a giant nutcracker probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But in Luverne, Minnesota, nutcrackers have become much more than a holiday decoration: they've become part of the community's identity and a growing tourism story that's attracting visitors and national attention.
This episode offers a look at how one unique idea evolved into a destination brand and what other communities can learn from Luverne's experience.
Joining the conversation are Betty Mann, whose remarkable nutcracker collection helped inspire it all; Katie Walgrave, who helped bring the world's tallest nutcracker to life; and Tony Schomacker, who has helped lead Luverne's destination branding efforts.
Sponsor And Big Idea Tease
SPEAKER_02The Growing Destinations Podcast is brought to you by Experience Rochester. From live music and local breweries to unforgettable dining, events, arts, and outdoor experiences, Rochester, Minnesota is full of energy, creativity, and surprises people don't always expect. This is Rochester Really. Learn more at Experience Rochester MN dot com.
SPEAKER_03In 2016, I went to my board and I said, I have this goofy collection of nutcrackers. I think maybe if we I donate it, it would draw people into the museum and then they'll see that our wonderful other exhibits that we have at the museum.
SPEAKER_01We knew that we needed a way to help increase tourism in Laverne because that could only help everyone else in Laverne. All of the stores will see a difference if we can increase the traffic into town.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the Growing Destinations Podcast, your source for conversations about the ideas, people, and strategies shaping the future of destination development and community growth. I'm your host, Bill Von Bank. When you think about iconic attractions, a giant nutcracker probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But in Laverne, Minnesota, nutcrackers have become much more than a holiday decoration. They've become part of the community's identity and a growing tourism story that's attracting visitors and national attention. Today we're talking about how one unique idea evolved into a destination brand and what other communities can learn from Laverne's experience. Joining me are three guests who have each played an important role in that journey. Betty Mann, whose remarkable Nutcracker collection helped inspire it all, Katie Walgrave, who helped bring the world's nutcracker to life, and Tony Schumacher, who has helped lead Laverne's destination branding efforts. Betty Mann, Katie Walgrave, and Tony Schumacher. Welcome to the Growing Destinations Podcast.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for having us. Thank you. I'm very excited. I've seen the Nutcracker on my way in, so um I can say firsthand that I've experienced the world's tallest nutcracker or close to. Betty,
Grief, Whimsy, And A First Nutcracker
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna start with you because you have amassed a massive collection of nutcrackers over the years, which you've donated to the Rock County Historical Society. Do you remember your first nutcracker?
SPEAKER_03Oh yes. The first nutcracker I got was in 2001. In 2000, I lost my husband and my oldest daughter, and that was a tough Christmas for me. And I first Saturday in January of 2001, I was in the Cracker Barrel in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I said to my daughter-in-law, I've always seen wanted a what wooden nutcracker, and I'm going to buy myself a bullet at Christmas Christmas, and I bought the first one there.
SPEAKER_02What was it about them that captured your attention?
SPEAKER_03Just it was kind of whimsical, and I don't know. I just kind of always liked Christmas.
SPEAKER_02And at what point did collecting become a passion? Because you've amassed a lot of them.
SPEAKER_03Yes. And I I am a collector. Over the years, my my mother started me on collecting little shoes, tiny shoes, nothing that I wear. And I had over 10,000 little shoes in my home. Oh my gosh. And um I am liquidating that collection now because none of my children want it. Surprise. So it kind of came naturally to me.
SPEAKER_02A lot of collections stay personal, but yours eventually became something the entire community could experience. How did the idea come about to donate your collection to the Rock County Historical Society?
SPEAKER_03I was president of the Historical Society for 27 years. And in 2014, we bought bought the building we were in now, gutted it, and moved in in 2015. After we moved in, I heard people say, Let's go see the museum. The next person would say, Oh, you've seen one museum, you've seen them all, and that bothered me. So in 2016, I went to my board and I said, I have this goofy collection of nutcrackers. I think maybe if we I donate it, it would draw people into the museum and then they'll see that our wonderful other exhibits that we have at the museum, our Laverne automobile and all the early history exhibits that we have. How many nutcrackers did you have and donate? I in 2016 I
Donating A Collection To Change Perception
SPEAKER_03donated over 2,500.
SPEAKER_02And it's my understanding that that has grown since, correct?
SPEAKER_03Immensely.
SPEAKER_02To like, is it like 7,500?
SPEAKER_03We're even over that since your last note. Um as of today, we have 7,720.
SPEAKER_02It's incredible to just walk through your gallery and look at them. Thank you. When the historical society was considering accepting the collection, there was a recognition that this was something different, something unexpected. When did you think it was important for a historical society to embrace something a little quirky and different?
SPEAKER_03Well, in 2017, we had a man by the name of Roger Brooks that came here and spent a week, and he told us what we were doing wrong and what we could add to our town and how we could improve. And one of the things he said was, you need a hook to get people into come to come into your town, and you have a perfect hook in Betty's Nutcrackers. And I about fell off my chair because I had no clue he was going to say that.
SPEAKER_02What did you hope visitors would experience when they came to see the collection?
SPEAKER_03Well, I think mostly I see this every day in the amazement that they see when they see the massive collection that we have.
SPEAKER_02And you still keep coming to the Historical Society. Do you come every day?
SPEAKER_03Almost.
SPEAKER_02That's that's a lot of time.
SPEAKER_03It it keeps me going.
SPEAKER_02When you walk through the collection today, what does it mean to see how it has grown and what it has become?
SPEAKER_03I don't walk through it without being amazed any any time because I had no clue at all that something like this would ever develop.
SPEAKER_02No, I don't want you to pick favorites, but is there one nutcracker in the collection that holds a special place for you?
SPEAKER_03Aaron Ross Powell That's a hard question and a lot of people ask me that, but I some are favorite because they're they're family related. Um I have some that my children painted for me when we had COVID and we couldn't get together for Christmas. I have some that I bought on trips. Anytime that I took a trip, I would try to find a nutcracker for a souvenir. And so some when I see some of them, I remember, oh yes, I remember that was when I was in Germany, or though that was when I was uh on a trip to North Carolina or something like that. So it brings back memories.
SPEAKER_02How does a community go from having thousands of nutcrackers in a museum to deciding we should build the world's tallest nutcracker?
SPEAKER_03We had a committee. Um we have a committee called Lift Laverne Initiative for Tomorrow. And on that committee, we started what we call the destination committee. And from that committee, it has built.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's go from collection to landmark, and I'd like to bring Katie Walgrave
Building Vern The Patriot Landmark
SPEAKER_02in. Katie, she's with those blasted things. Tell us a little bit about that shop.
SPEAKER_01Um my parents started that shop in about 25 years ago, and it started as a store with rocks that were sandblasted, which is why they got the name Those Blasted Things. And they quickly realized that we needed to have more than just sandblasted rocks. And so gradually over the last 25 years, it's built into rocks and gemstones and jewelry and souvenirs and whatever we saw that people were interested in that were they were asking more for, then we built upon that.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell In the introduction, I mentioned that I have seen this massive nutcracker and it's right next to your shop. So let's talk a little bit about the process of bringing this project to life.
SPEAKER_01So once the destination branding committee decided that they thought building the world's largest nutcracker was a really cool idea. For a little while, the plan was to put it near the History Center. But because of various different obstacles that couldn't happen. And so it kind of laid dormant for a little while until one of the founding members of Just for Nuts nonprofit uh applied for a grant and he got a grant from the Blandon Foundation, at which point we said, okay, this has to happen. So we started looking and at those blasted things, there was this old mobile sign post. No sign left on it, but just this post. And we said, you know, this might be a really good place to put the nutcracker because it would be visible from the interstate, it would be visible from both sides and from the highway. And that would actually work really well to start bringing people off the interstate.
SPEAKER_02So that was that was your land.
SPEAKER_01That was my parents, yeah. Your parents, my parents' property. Vance and Becky Walgrave, who owned those blasted things, decided that they would love to give just for nuts, the nonprofit, a lifetime easement to use that property and to be able to use the parking lot of the property. So even if in the future those blasted things no longer existed, whoever owns that property always that lifetime easement stays forever. So being visible from the interstate and from the highway, it was a really good location. And then we had this great big pole in the middle, which was a really useful thing for us to be able to put a giant statue up and have it be stable.
SPEAKER_02Why was it important for your family to personally invest in this vision?
SPEAKER_01My dad has lived in Laverne his entire life, and I've lived here my entire life. My mom grew up in Pipestone, but she's lived in Laverne longer than she ever lived in Pipestone. And so being lifetime residents of Laverne, we didn't want to see Laverne falling off the map and dying. When the interstate came in, it started to harm downtowns in all of the small town communities. And we knew that we needed a way to help increase tourism in Laverne because that could only help everyone else in Laverne. All of the stores will see a difference if we can increase the traffic into town instead of being just a drive-by. A lot of people are headed out to those to the Black Hills to see the big heads, as I like to call them. And we wanted to be able to harvest some of that tourism money and it's working. So as soon as we put up the hat on that statue, we started seeing quadruple the amount of people that we had seen in our store. And the history has seen a huge increase as well. I I think that they've had so last year at the in July they had 600 people stop by and this year in July they had over a thousand.
SPEAKER_02At the History Center.
SPEAKER_01At the History Center. And that means that these people are all coming all the way through Laverne, stopping, driving past almost every single retail business in town. So all of these businesses now have an opportunity to look appealing to the tourists that are driving past.
SPEAKER_02What are the reactions of visitors?
SPEAKER_01They love it. They absolutely love it. And at first I was surprised, and it's grown on me now, but sometimes some of the people who were not interested in the nutcracker were saying, well, it's just the little old ladies that are gonna stop by. But it's actually not. It's the families and it's the the teenage boys that are collecting the nutcrackers. That one surprised me the most. I did not expect it to be teenage boys that had the most nutcracker collections in the young 20 somethings. And it's I mean, it's all ages of people.
SPEAKER_02Does the nutcracker ever name?
SPEAKER_01The nutcracker's name is Vern the Patriot.
SPEAKER_02The Patriot. It's very well, it's appropriate, the Patriot. Did you have discussion on what it would look like?
SPEAKER_01So originally I had just been making mock-ups of our showing how big our nutcracker would be compared to people and trying to get our variants and working toward that. And we're sitting down with the nutcracker board, the just for nuts committee, and I said, Okay, guys, it's time we have to decide what he's gonna look like. And they all looked at me and they said, Well, we like we like what you've been doing. Because I had just been using, you know, the idea of a Uncle Sam looking nutcracker. And they said, Well, I want him to look like that. I thought that's what we were doing. So that's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02Well, how appropriate on America 250, too.
SPEAKER_01It ended up being perfect, even though we wanted him built a couple years ago that he was finished on America 250. And also he's greeting all of the people that go to work at the armory, which is just on the road. We have a brand new, beautiful armory. And whenever those people come in to do their weekends, he's there saying hello, welcome to Laverne.
SPEAKER_02Well, you obviously have had a big hand in bringing this to life. What goes into building a giant nutcracker?
SPEAKER_01Originally, we went through 13 different fabricators trying to find one that was appropriate for us. And finally, we ended up with one in Utah who said they could tackle the job. We had promises of it happening a lot faster than what it did, so we weren't always so pleased. But it took uh you know a lot of dedication on our end of um, you know, Vance and Mike Davis. They just without those two, we wouldn't have gotten it up, honestly. And then a lot of other people that put in their handiwork and uh took a giant crane and it's had an 80-foot lift and all sorts of big equipment and a spectacle in and of itself. A spectacle. And then adding to it that we had boots for sitting sitting there for a year, and then we had legs standing there for a year. So we've had a lot of attention, good and bad, but a lot of attention for it. And then finally, when he got his hat on, it's all been good since then.
SPEAKER_02Well, attractions are what get people talking, but destination brands are built when an entire community embraces a story.
Branding A Town Around A Hook
SPEAKER_02That's where Tony Schumacher comes in. Tony, communities across the country are trying to figure out what makes them unique. Laverne made a very intentional decision to embrace something unexpected. Why not crackers?
SPEAKER_00It goes back to what Betty said, Roger Brooks. Um, he came in here, inspected the town, and did a couple different like he shopped the town, gave us some ideas, and one of the ideas that he gave was a quirky little hook that kind of comes into play to grab people in to bring them into town. Um, and he said that was nutcrackers. And he came up with some ideas that we could do because he had a big showing for the community. And I went and not being involved so much in the community up until that point, um, and that was back in 2017, and he came up with some ideas that stuff you can do with nutcrackers, and and a couple of them were like a community art project, which we have done, and then there was you know a couple little things about having kids build their own nutcrackers and all that stuff, you know, and one of them was creating the world's largest nutcracker, and um that really got my attention because you know, Minnesota's known to have such big statues, and if we're gonna be known for the nutcracker destination, we need to have the world's largest nutcracker. So that is basically why and how it started was originally from Roger Brooks.
SPEAKER_02When did the community begin to see that this is more than just a collection or a fun attraction?
SPEAKER_00Basically, back in 2017, when I came out with this, it hit the papers, and that's more of a negative effect. Um, the biggest thing that you're gonna realize when you're trying to grow a destination, a lot of people, a lot of the community was not behind it. So that was kind of a little troublesome at first because you have to work through that stuff, and I think that's when they started realizing that this was gonna be very serious. So at that point, you know, all we had were these like flat nutcrackers. I think there was like 60 of them around town, 40, 50, 60 of them around town. There were flat nutcrackers that we had a local company make. Before that, that's what we had, and people were okay with that. But then when this idea came out as the world's largest nutcracker, that's when the community started, oh, you guys are serious about this. And um, that that took more of a negative effect than it did a positive effect. So we had to work through that, and it wasn't the easiest of things.
SPEAKER_02So, how did you work through it to get businesses and artists and organizations and residents all aligned?
SPEAKER_00A lot of it's teamwork, you know. The the biggest thing is this community really does support each other for the most part. Um, and it took a lot of leadership from all angles to get this thing done. We worked, uh, me personally worked on the destination branding. Uh, I was chair of that, and we worked uh with the downtown, well, just well, mostly downtown public art statues, and sort of seven-foot statues, and then it veered off into just for nuts, and they took over the aspect of the world's largest nutcracker. So, what you'd got here is you got different people taking it in different avenues, and to get through that point, you you need leadership, good leadership, not just basically one leader, but just a group of leaders that could take it into different areas and different avenues to make it work, and that's that's what it that's what it took.
SPEAKER_02And it's not just a 60-foot nutcracker, it's a themed craft beer, it's a scavenger hunt, it's many activities to get both residents and visitors involved and engaged in the community, correct? Correct, yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you're gonna do something like this, you gotta do it right, and that's what Roger Brooks said. When you you're creating an experience, and when you want to create that experience, you have to do it right. We'd now have the like I said before, the du uh seven foot nutcrackers downtown, the beer. We have a scavenger hunt uh during the holiday season. We um have nutcracker fests. That was something else too. You know, that younger generation, the 20-year-old, you know, with the baseball team, the Redbirds got together and wanted to do a Nutcracker Fest, and they have where they switched their name for one night to the Nutcracker. So you start to see that that's what it takes to really make something like this happen. It's not just one person's idea, one person drives it, it's it's many people that have to drive it, and it's teamwork and determination that makes this thing go.
SPEAKER_02Betty,
Pride, Pushback, And Lessons Learned
SPEAKER_02Katie, and Tony, each of you represents a different piece of this story, a personal passion, entrepreneurial vision, and community strategy. I have a few final questions for each of you. Betty, when you bought your first nutcracker, did you ever imagine it would lead to something like this? Oh heavens no.
SPEAKER_03Would it have been the last thing that I would have ever thought of?
SPEAKER_02Pretty gratifying. Very. Katie, what makes you most proud when you see visitors experiencing what Laverne has created?
SPEAKER_01I'm proud to see that the vision that everyone that worked together happened and it's doing what we expected it to do. And it's so fun to see all of these people come off the interstate and say, I was driving to the Black Hills and I saw that thing and I had to see what was going on. And or when someone, a family comes in, they say, We're staying overnight because we heard that the world's artist nutcracker was here, and then we found out there was a museum and we have to go check this out. This is the coolest thing I've seen. It's just fun to see all of the things people are excited about. And it opens my eyes a little bit too, because when you live in a community for a long time, you get kind of blind to things. So one of the things that I've been hearing most often, and actually this is probably the most proud, is ever people that are coming in from all over the United States and all over the world, and they say, Your community is so clean. I can tell that the residents take pride in their homes and in their shops because it's so clean here.
SPEAKER_02I would agree with that, having walked around and driven around.
SPEAKER_01Even people from, you know, we've had several from Nebraska saying, and I think, well, it's the Midwest, of course it's clean here, but I guess it's just cleaner here. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Tony, what do you think other communities can learn from Laverne's journey?
SPEAKER_00I think the biggest thing is never giving up. We sat at a meeting one time and the community kind of spoke their piece to us, and we kind of came up with uh the idea with the seven foot nutcrackers that we weren't gonna do it, we're gonna move on to something else since they didn't like it, and one person stood up and says, We're not gonna give up that easy. Um and since then we put the seven foot nutcrackers out and then we built the world's largest nutcracker. You know, the biggest thing is don't give up. I mean, you you can listen to community a little bit, but you gotta just keep going forward.
SPEAKER_02I have a final question for each of you. It's the same question to answer. Betty, every destination has a story to tell. What do you hope people say about Laverne after they've experienced the nutcracker story?
SPEAKER_03I already see this because as people leave our museum, as they walk out the door, I hear so many things. This is just utterly amazing. And when we can do this and bring people into our town to see what a a lovely little town that we have. I've grew up here and lived here all my life, and I'm very proud to be a resident of Laverne, and I'm just proud to see how people are interested in in what we have.
SPEAKER_02And at 96 years young, you're probably the resident historian.
SPEAKER_03Probably.
SPEAKER_02Tony, how about you? What do you hope people say about Laverne after they've experienced the Nutcracker story?
SPEAKER_00That it was a great experience. That uh they didn't just come here and see just a collection. You know, we worked with through this and we always kind of focus on the big one or the other statues. But we've sometimes remember too that we got a collection here that's over 7,000, I believe, now. So I hope that when they leave here they got the experience that they were looking for. Katie, how about you?
SPEAKER_01My favorite thing to hear people say, and I want everyone to say this, is I can't wait to come back and bring someone else with me.
SPEAKER_02Well, today's conversation is a great reminder that destination development doesn't always start with a billion-dollar attraction or a perfectly crafted marketing campaign. Sometimes it starts with a unique idea, passionate people, and a community willing to embrace what makes them different. And I want to thank Betty, Katie, and Tony for being our guests on the Growing Destinations Podcast. Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for listening to Growing Destinations, brought to you by Experience Rochester. If
Final Takeaway And Listener Call
SPEAKER_02you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it. And if you're planning your next getaway, weekend trip, or conference destination, discover everything happening in Rochester, Minnesota. Because this isn't the Rochester you think you know. This is Rochester, really. Learn more at Experiencer Mn.com.
