Small Minnesota Town is Attempting to Break a Giant World Record

A small town in southwest Minnesota is looking to break a Guinness World Record. This has been a work in progress since 2017!

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The Town of Luverne, MN Looking to be in the Guinness World Records

This is all happening in the town of Luverne, Minnesota, right on the South Dakota border and not too far from Sioux Falls, SD.

The Minnesota Star Tribune writes that the town sees money from Sioux Falls residents driving right by because people don't typically stop in Luverne. The town hired a marketing expert to help and they suggested something quite unique to get people to stop in the small town.

Nutcrackers.

Luverne, MN's Nutcracker Collection

A woman named Betty Mann, who is now 94, lives in Luverne with her incredible collection of 6,452 nutcrackers. The are more nutcrackers than people in Luverne now!

It all started in 2000 when Betty lost her husband and her oldest daughter. That Christmas was really hard on her but a little nutcracker she got at Cracker Barrel gave her a little happiness. And then she got another nutcracker. And another. And over the years the collection became quite impressive.

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The marketing expert hired by Luverne learned about this collected and said the town should lean into it.

After some pushback, the town agreed and now, thanks to Betty, Luverne is working on creating the world's tallest working nutcracker.

Betty said to the MN Star Tribune, "'I'm the crazy old lady who started the whole thing.'"

The World's Tallest Nutcracker

Currently, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the tallest nutcracker is in Neuhausen, Germany. It was built by a couple and they officially got the title in August of 2008. Their nutcracker stands at 33 feet and 1 inch.

However, there's a nutcracker in Roseburg, Oregon that is technically taller, they just don't have the official title. However, the Guinness World Records does specify that the nutcrack needs to be fully operational, and I'm not sure if the one in Oregon is.

That nutcracker stands at 41 feet.

And then you have the nutcracker that they're working on in Luverne, MN. The idea started in 2017 but it seems to me that work didn't really get going until December of 2023. With the pandemic and the massive cost increase for lumber, they needed to pause work.

Right now, they only have the boots of the nutcracker done, but those are still an impressive 14 feet tall. The legs were constructed elsewhere and just recently arrived in Luverne. Those are going to be installed in the spring. The torso and head are also being constructed elsewhere.

They hope to have the nutcracker done by July 2025 in time for Luverne's annual Hot Dog Nite festival. When it's complete, it will stand 65 feet tall!

Vance Walgrave of Luverne is the main man behind the construction of this giant nutcracker. He said he went with 65 feet because he wants to make sure all of this effort isn't something that can be beat easily.

As for Betty's collection, that marketing idea seems to be working because people are starting to know Luverne as the town for nutcrackers and Betty loves it.