LITTLE FALLS, Minn. – It is a place where history and holiday feeling come together.
“It’s growing every year and we’re excited to be a part of it now,” said Mike Worcester, who works at the Charles Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum.
During the first week of December, Little Falls hosts Christmas tours of the town. It’s a chance for historic buildings to decorate their halls and spread their cheer.
“It brings people into the community, which is really nice. And it helps our stores, hotels and everything that goes on here in town,” said Worcester.
The Charles Weyerhaeuser Museum is part of the Christmas tour. Weyerhaeuser was a timber baron in Little Falls and during most of the year the museum is known for celebrating logging, farming, railroads and riverways.
“From indigenous residents to modern residents,” Worcester said. “You name it, and if it relates to the history of the province, we’ve got it.”
But during the holidays, dozens and dozens of little wooden soldiers take over, adding a little whimsy to the wild history.
“They asked us, would you like a bunch of nutcrackers? We thought this might be good for us. Join the Christmas tours,” said Grace Doxbury of the Morrison County Historical Society.
The first donation came from the tourism office. The second donation came from a resident who wanted to see his lifelong collection go to a good home. The little guys came in all shapes and sizes.
‘We have Jack Skellington from the Nightmare before Christmas. We have the rat king from the Nutcracker,” Doxbury said. “We have snowmen, we have a bottle of Jim Beam in the shape of a nutcracker.”
The donations came in so quickly that it became a bit crazy. That’s why the museum decided to create a treasure hunt that has become wildly popular.
“Because we have a lot of different, unique nutcrackers. It’s like, can you find the disco ball? Can you find the Grinch,” Doxbury said.
It is not without reason that the nutcrackers are scattered among historical artifacts. So while visitors search for it, they also get a history lesson.
“We’re getting more people in than we would on a nice summer day. This has been really good for us,” Doxbury said.
And good for the city. Because as long as the nutcrackers stick around, they’ll keep crushing it.
“Little Falls is fortunate in that it has an amazing historic district. People care about preserving the past of this place,” Doxbury said. “All while being in a beautiful location, like the Mississippi River. It’s just perfect everywhere.”
Little Falls Christmas tours begin right after Thanksgiving and end the second week of December. However, many of the buildings remain open, including the Weyerhaueser. Their Nutcracker exhibition runs through December.
Johannes Lauritsen
