Towering at 41 feet, the world’s largest nutcracker, Herr Woody Winterguard, stands watch over the Umpqua Valley Festival of Lights in Roseburg each December. For his 10th season, Woody this year received a refurbishing with a power wash and fresh coat of paint.
But he might soon be facing competition. There’s an effort in Luverne, Minnesota, to build an even taller nutcracker.
Woody, and the entire Festival of Lights, were the creations of Kerwin Doughton, a member of the Roseburg Rotary Club who started the drive-thru light display in 1993. The event raises money for the Rotary Club, which uses proceeds to pay for student scholarships and club service projects.
Today, the Umpqua Valley Festival of Lights includes more than 90 displays and half a million lights across River Forks Park. An estimated 25,000 people visit every year.
“I came through here as a little girl just years after it opened,” said Tabbitha Layman, the festival’s current chair. “This is a big piece of Christmas for me. I bring my kids now every year.”
Doughton, who died in 2021 at age 82, was constantly looking for ways to expand and improve the light display. In 2014, he decided Roseburg, located in timber country, ought to have the world’s largest wooden nutcracker. He contracted with an artist in Canby, who carved the creation from fallen timber. A contest was held to name the nutcracker, and Woody Winterguard was born.
The nutcracker is installed each year at the River Forks Park via a crane and held in place by guide wires. When he’s powered up for the evening light show, the nutcracker’s jaw opens and closes, and his arms swing slowly from side to side.
“It’s pretty special to have the world’s largest nutcracker, or really anything for that matter, right here in Roseburg, Oregon,” Layman said. “We have people that travel from all over the United States. We started tracking a couple of years ago, and I think we’ve recorded 38 states that people have come from just to visit.”
If you look up the Guinness World Record for largest nutcracker, you’ll find the one in Neuhausen, Germany, which stands 33 feet and one inch tall. A common internet search will tell you the one in Roseburg is taller, even if it doesn’t have the “official” title.
But that’s what the folks in Luverne, Minnesota, are hoping to claim next summer, when they plan to unveil an even bigger nutcracker.
The owners of a rock shop and memorial business called Those Blasted Things, Vance Walgrave and his wife, Becky, formed a nonprofit last year called Just for Nuts with the goal of erecting a 65-foot nutcracker on their property, just off Interstate 90 in Minnesota’s southwest corner. They’ve collected donations for the fabrication of the massive, fiberglass nutcracker, estimated to cost about $350,000. This nutcracker will be a year-round fixture, and the Walgraves hope it will draw tourists to their small town.
Luverne is famous for having more nutcrackers than people. In 2016, the town museum received a donated collection of nutcrackers that now totals close to 6,000. The town itself has just 5,000 residents.
This giant nutcracker will be a patriotic one, adorned in stars and stripes like Uncle Sam and holding one hand over his heart. It will be bigger than two other well-known roadside attractions in Minnesota: the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth (55 feet) and the biggest ball of twine in Darwin (12 feet).
In Roseburg, Layman has no hard feelings for the Luverne effort. Woody’s had a decade on top, and even if the Luverne project is successful, he’ll still be the tallest nutcracker made of wood.
IF YOU GO: The Umpqua Valley Festival of Lights is open daily through Jan. 1, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Hours are 5:30-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Cost is $10 per car or $40 for a “season pass” with unlimited visits for the month. The Roseburg Rotary Club also operates the Grange Holiday Village four miles away, where children can get free photos with Santa. For tickets and more info, visit uvfestivaloflights.com.
