North Pole

[sholio]

I drove to North Pole today, a sentence which I am reliably informed sounds completely off the wall to anyone who's not from around here.

I was out there to take pictures for my Julie Ecker newsletter (the town in the next book is kind of loosely based on it) but I figured I'd also share a few here because North Pole is ... definitely a place. It's kind of industrial, adjacent to a military base, well known as the local primo source for artisanally handcrafted meth, and located in a swamp, but they have a Theme and they are committed.



This sign is located on a roundabout that I had to cross on foot in 3F weather to take a picture, which is a GREAT place for a sign that people are probably going to want to take pictures of, but it's very North Pole to put it there. To give them full credit, in spite of our recent snowfall they had very well-cleared sidewalks.

North Pole also features red and white striped light poles that look like candy canes.



In fact, if there is anything in town that can be red and white striped, it probably is.



But of course I was really there to take pictures of ...



... giant Santa.



Supposedly, at 42 feet, it's the World's Largest Santa Statue. It's located outside the Santa Claus House, which is basically a big Christmas store. I also took some pictures in there, because it's got a lot of themed Christmas trees which include, for example, a gnome tree covered in ornaments consisting entirely of gnomes.



Of course there's more than just gnomes; don't be silly.



There are also approximately a million varieties of snowglobes, Christmas villages, Advent calendars, stuffed toys, whatever's going on with the life-size dioramas up near the ceiling:



... and the entire "putting Christ back in Christmas" corner which includes a whole bunch of Nativity sets. I recently saw a post going around Tumblr about how female cardinals are brown, so if you see two red cardinals on a Christmas card they're a gay couple, which was definitely the right frame of mind for viewing this Nativity:



To be completely fair I coveted a ton of things in here, just barely talked myself out of buying a number of items including a light-up gnome snowglobe and several of the Nativity sets, and walked out with a bag of Christmas kitsch. It's been a while since I was back there and it's just as delightfully batshit as I remembered. They also have reindeer, but I was unable to take any pictures because the reindeer barn was closed to the public for some reason; woe.

Comments

[yalumesse]

lol gotta to love commitment to a theme. Sounds like fun :)

[sheron]

This is like Christmas: Distilled

Amazing :D

[goss]

AMAZING.

[sophia_sol]

god that cardinal creche is peak hilarity, peak kitsch, peak people don't understand birds. It is amazing.

[ellenmillion]

I will never look at cardinals the same again...

[cornerofmadness]

This just looks so fun

[passingbuzzards]

Lost it at “local primo source for artisanally handcrafted meth,” LOL, thank you for this post! This really is a town with an aesthetic but also lowkey feels like the setup for a Christmas-themed horror story, especially with the giant monster Santa and tree-o’-gnomes…

[sovay]

It's kind of industrial, adjacent to a military base, well known as the local primo source for artisanally handcrafted meth, and located in a swamp, but they have a Theme and they are committed.

I'm truly impressed by their municipal candy striping budget.

[genarti]

Amazing! I cannot imagine living there, but I respect the commitment to a bit! Also, that store looks like an EXPERIENCE.

[madripoor_rose]

Love the theme, heh. Been a while since I've been back to Bronner's CHRIST-mas Wonderland in Frankenmuth MI, which is pretty much the same thing.

[sushiflop]

Ahhh... DELIGHTFUL.

well known as the local primo source for artisanally handcrafted meth

sounds just like home

[rionaleonhart]

This place looks absolutely deranged, and I'm delighted. Thank you for sharing your photos!

[black_bentley]

This takes committing to the bit to a whole new level, I love it. Our village has a year-round Christmas shop, but this really is something else :DDD

Also, I am completely here for Gay Cardinal Christmas (as well as the male-female dimorphism, I'm going to assume baby cardinals do not in fact just look like tiny adults...)

[trobadora]

Amazing! I especially like the candy cane streetlights.

[philomytha]

AMAZING

[leesa_perrie]

Now that is commitment to a theme right there!! Even McD's is in on it!!

That store sounds fun! :D

[osprey_archer]

I love this town! The candy-striped poles, the sign in the middle of a roundabout, the giant Santa! They have an Aesthetic and by god they committed.

[wateroverstone]

What a fabulous place. The welcome sign absolutely needs relocating somewhere safer for photographs.

[brightknightie]

If I remember correctly, my dad took us there once -- in summertime. I think that I remember seeing the sign and the outside of the Santa Claus House, but those may just be memories of the Polaroid photos.

It was definitely high summer, though, either way. :-)

Thank you for raising those memories!

[hamsterwoman]

Ahaha wow XD

(I googled the town to see how far it was from the actual magnetic North Pole and came across the bit about a council member who legally changed his name to Santa Claus and I’m just really impressed by this town’s commitment to the theme XD)

[gwyn]

Amazing!! I know it sounds corny, but I have always wanted to go to there. Thanks for sharing a bit of it.

[sgatazmy]

This is so awesome!!! I love it

[vass]

a gnome tree covered in ornaments consisting entirely of gnomes.

How Cetagandan of them.

[schneefink]

That sounds delightful(ly batshit) indeed, thanks for the report and pictures :)

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Giant Santa looks terrifying!

I love the cardinal creche. I have been in Christmas stores, and I applaud your courage. They scare me too. Normally, I'm not afraid of Christmas decorations, but something about the quantity of them and, even more the people who are excited to be there, just overwhelms me.