Craig Thacker, Curtis Sandbulte, Brent Fransen and Ryan Wynia make up the Lamplighters Quartet in the American Reformed Church's upcoming production. Show times are 7 p.m. Friday, after the Winterfest parade Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. The dinners preceding the shows are sold out, but there is plenty of room for performances. A free will offering will be taken. The musical play is set in 1905. In it, a family runs a music conservatory in a town called Syracuse. The family is having a difficult time trying to become successful in their careers. Finally, a break comes during Christmas, but then it is cancelled. The family has choices to make and lessons to learn from there.
By Lori Ehde
"A Storybook Christmas" is the theme for Luverne's fifth annual Winterfest celebration this weekend.
Though countless activities are planned for the weekend, the lighted parade is arguably the focal point of the weekend.
This year, 28 floats are entered in the parade, and all are supposed to be built around the theme of a story, such as the "Night Before Christmas" or biblical stories.
According to Chamber Director Dave Smith, there were more than 30 last year, and viewers began to get cold because it lasted so long.
"We think 27 or 28 is a real nice, manageable number," Smith said.
He said most of the entries are new creations, because the theme changes from year to year and because different organizations enter from one year to the next.
The lighted parade will begin at 7 p.m. at the corner of Main Street and Freeman Avenue.
All units will go east on Main Street and turn north on Blue Mound Avenue. They'll come back west on Luverne Street and turn south on Freeman Street where the parade will end.
This route will again take the action past viewers in the Hospice Cottage, the hospital and Blue Mound Tower apartments.
Connell Car Care lot on Blue Mound Avenue will be reserved for handicap parking.
All floats must be lighted, powered by a generator, and all must have music playing loud enough to be heard over generator noise.
No floats may have Santa or Mrs. Claus, so as not to confuse children. (Santa will make an appearance at the end of the parade.)
According to Lorna Bryan at the Luverne Area Chamber of Commerce, it's often difficult to hear float entries announced as they make their way around the parade route, and if entries aren't well-lit, it's difficult to see their names as well.
For that reason, the Chamber has released the parade entry list in the order each will appear Saturday night. They are as follows:
The first nine entries are in the civic category, except for Glen's Food Center's "A Storybook Tribute to USA," which will lend a patriotic flavor to the event.
Floats 10-16 are in the churches category, floats 17-22 are in the small business category (fewer than 25 employees) and entries 23-28 are large businesses.
1. "Lighted Flag" by the American Legion
2. "A Storybook Tribute to USA," by Glen's Food Center
3. "Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts
4. "Lighted Fire Engine" by the Luverne Fire Department
5. "A Cup of Christmas Tea" by Luverne Community Hospital
6. "Little Red School House" by the Luverne Education Association
7. "Decorated Ambulance" by the Rock County Ambulance
8. "Noah's Ark" by Becky Gonnerman and friends
9. "Santa Bear and Peppermint Mouse" by the Winterfest Committee
10. "Legend of the Candy Cane" by the American Reformed Church
11. "Greatest Story Ever Told" by Bethany Lutheran Church
12. "Charlie Brown Christmas" by First Presbyterian Church
13. "The Littlest Angel" by Grace Lutheran Church
14. "The Bible Ñ the True Story of Jesus" by St. John Lutheran Church
15. "Christmas Around the World" by the Christian Reformed Church
16. "The Holy Bible" by Hardwick Zion Lutheran
17."The Night Before Christmas" by First Farmers & Merchants National Bank
18. "Mickey's Magical Christmas" by Reliant Minnegasco
19. "Gingerbread Man" by Shear Reflections
20. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by First National Bank
21. "Lighted LA-Case" by VanDerBrink Auctions
22. "Santa's Coming to Town," by Subway
23. "Moola Moola" by Minnwest Bank
24. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by Agri-Energy LLC
25. "America's Favorite Storyteller" by Continental Western Group, Tri-State Region
26. "Frosty the Snowman" by Jubilee Foods
27. "The Night Before Christmas" by M-M Distributing
28. "Wishing You a Merry Christmas" by the Minnesota Veterans Nursing Home
Smith said the parade and Saturday's Winterfest Craft Show are the two main events, as far as bringing people into town. "They're the two big community draws," he said.
The craft show, in the Luverne Elementary School gymnasium, will accommodate 95 vendors this year - 10 more than last year.
Smith said this year's show, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., features 21 new vendors, and he said the event draws crafters and artists from as far away as Detroit Lakes and the Twin Cities.
"They're coming from a farther distance, so word's getting out," he said. "We're published in a state periodical of festivals, plus crafters talk among themselves."