ELKHORN — There's a Wisconsin town that has earned the nickname Christmas Card Town. That's because of the old Victorian homes, the decorations on the light posts, the cutout scenes in the park, and the decorations in the downtown businesses.
It's almost like something out of a Hallmark movie. The town looks like the place you'd run into a jaded prince escaping the pressures of his family as he is about to inherit the throne. There's a coffee shop that's destined for a meet-cute when two people order the same drink, they reach for it, their hands touch, and the look in their eyes seals their fate. They will be spending Christmas together. There is even a Christmas tree farm that may or may not have a hunky Christmas tree farmer who will teach you the true meaning of Christmas.
This town is Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Since the 1950s, it has had the nickname Christmas Card Town.
Watch the video to see more examples of the Christmas cards...
The nickname is courtesy of two different reasons. The first is primarily for the picture-perfect Christmas cards.
In 1958, the Ford Motor Company commissioned artist Cecile Johnson to paint six Christmas scenes for a company magazine. The sights and Christmas spirit of a recent visit to Elkhorn inspired Johnson. After they were completed, a major publisher noticed them in the magazine and had them turned into Christmas cards.
That began a sort of one-off tradition of making these Christmas cards. In the 1990s, the town decided it wanted more Christmas cards. So a new tradition began by creating a Christmas card each year inspired by Elkhorn buildings, streets, and parks. About 40,000 have been printed and shipped across the country. The two other artists who have created Christmas cards are Jan Castle-Reed and T. James Carson.
"Because of the effort and intent of making sure that Christmas was properly celebrated in our community that we earned the Christmas Card Town title," Kate Abbe, with the Elkhorn Chamber of Commerce, said.
The other reason Elkhorn became so well known for being a Christmas town is from a 1952 television series called 'The March of Time". It followed a local journalist showing a television crew around town. There were specific shots of high school students prepping for holiday concerts and city workers decorating the downtown.
"He also highlighted how we celebrate Christmas," Abbe said.
If you are going to claim the title of Christmas Card Town, there is one more thing that a city must have. That's a Christmas parade. In Elkhorn, the 44th annual Christmas Card Town Parade is happening on Dec. 6 through the downtown starting at 1:30 pm.
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