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Friday, November 14, 2008
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New outlet for cheer
Staff Writer This Christmas season there will be one more outlet of holiday cheer in the Brainerd lakes area that may touch your heart.
The beginning of the Christmas season on the day after Thanksgiving also will mark the beginning of Brainerd Community Action's new Holiday Village. Why might this Holiday Village touch people's hearts? Because the space for the Holiday Village - in the former Dollar Store at the Westgate Mall in Brainerd - was donated by the mall to be used by nonprofit groups in the lakes area at no cost to host fundraisers and fun events for the community.
"The holiday season is all about making memories and I'm hoping that the Holiday Village will provide that to the community," said Nancy Cross, Brainerd Community Action executive director.
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Nancy Cross, Brainerd Community Action executive director, sat on the lap of Paul Bunyan, the world's largest rag doll, Thursday at Holiday Village in the former Dollar Store at the Westgate Mall in Brainerd. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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The Holiday Village - featuring a church, bakery, general store, bank, cafe, stable, jail and an outhouse - can be seen behind a hand-painted Christmas scene on the window display from the mall concourse.
Cross said the idea of the Holiday Village came from Community Action's annual fundraiser of wrapping Christmas gifts at the mall to raise money for the Fourth of July celebration. Cross said the organization wanted to draw more attention to the fundraiser and had the space to do a village since the mall donated the 8,000 square-foot space.
Cross said there are three goals for the Holiday Village: To increase fundraising donations, to feature nonprofits in the area and to increase traffic at the mall.
"This is a win-win situation for everyone," Cross said. "This whole project has been a labor of love and is about community."
Several nonprofit organizations and businesses put in many hours creating the village. Cross said the village has been constructed, but decorating it for Christmas is just beginning.
The Holiday Village will host holiday events, entertainment and more than 20 nonprofit organizations in the area will use it as the site for their fundraising events. Nonprofit events at the village will include the Lakes Area Senior Activity Center's doughnut sales, Family of Christ's craft and bake sale, Brainerd Women of Today's day care for shoppers, Operation Interdependence's gathering of goods to make care packages for deployed soldiers and Community Action's gift-wrapping of presents.
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Rachel Cross of Brainerd Community Action on Thursday helped decorate the Holiday Village. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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Several performances are scheduled at the Holiday Village for the holiday season. A Bemidji singing group will perform Dec. 13. Other entertainment includes Tuba Christmas from Central Lakes College, a bell choir and a cello performance.
"I'd like to see a neighborhood group come in to do a puppet show or a day care that wants to do a Christmas program for parents here," said Cross. "That'd be fun."
Cross said there will be a calendar at the front entrance of the Holiday Village for the community to look at to see a list of the nonprofits and the performances that will be conducted on a particular day. Cross said Community Action will move its office to the Holiday Village sometime next week to man the village.
And if you're not in the mood for Christmas, you may still want to stop by the Holiday Village to see one of its main features. Paul Bunyan, the world's largest rag doll, sits in a big wooden chair that overlooks the village.
Kathy Moore of the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway recently e-mailed the Dispatch the history of the rag doll. The rag doll measures 13 feet tall and is listed in the Guinness World Book of Records. The doll was handmade from his hat to his boots and is constructed similar to a jointed Cabbage Patch doll; Paul's head alone took 40 hours to construct with each hair attached one strand at a time; and the doll was designed and made by fabric artist Marilyn Lee and craftsman Kenny Kraeplin, both from northern Minnesota.
The main sponsors of the village are KQ 101.5 Brainerd Lakes Area Radio, CharterMedia, Spectrum Printing in Little Falls, Stock Building Supply and the Westgate Mall.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
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