Daycation: Steubenville, Ohio, boasts world's largest display of life-sized nutcrackers
Nov. 29—Experience a whimsical and traditional holiday walking tour of 200 life-sized nutcrackers on display in historic Steubenville, Ohio, located about 40 miles from downtown Pittsburgh.
The Steubenville Nutcracker Village offers a free, 24/7 nutcracker self-guided outdoor tour opportunity through Jan. 7.
Billed as the world's largest collection of life-sized nutcrackers, the village is presented by the Steubenville Cultural Trust.
The village began in 2015, created by Mark Nelson and Steubenville Mayor Jerry Barilla, both who have a passion for revitalizing the downtown district with an emphasis on Christmas.
Mark Nelson owns Nelson Enterprises in Steubenville.
He and his wife Gretchen and their 10 children are all involved with the village, and his daughter Therese Fredoryka designs all of the nutcrackers and serves as festival organizer.
"In its first year, we had 37 nutcrackers. It was very small and we honestly anticipated only about 35," Fredoryka said.
Now in its seventh season, annual visitors include tourists from all 50 states and Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
"It grew the most first two years. We just kept on adding them. We now have about 200 nutcrackers on a waiting list," Fredoryka said.
During the off-season, the nutcrackers are stored in empty buildings.
Events and activities throughout the nutcracker village include a lantern parade, library story walk, hay rides, children's corner and nutcracker village and an old fashioned country Christmas concert.
Keep an eye out for St. Nicholas, and if your legs tire out, hop the free trolley that runs throughout the nutcracker route and to the Holiday Market.
The annual event welcomes thousands of people to Steubenville, a once bustling steel, paper, glass, coal and nail mill town along the banks of the Ohio River.
Tarentum resident Donata Biernesser returned last weekend with her three children in tow for the third consecutive year.
"The kids love it and it's free," Biernesser said. "They just like walking around and taking pics with all of the nutcrackers."
From Snoopy to Shirley Temple, Jack Frost to the Little Drummer Boy, the variety of nutcracker themes run the gamut from the sporty, famous, nostalgic, religious and humorous.
"Belle is my favorite one and my son Daniel liked the bumble bee one the best," Biernesser said.
Each nutcracker is carved by Brodie Stutzman and most of them are painted by Fedoryka.
"We're trying to do an internal branding campaign here, in Steubenville, to raise our own pride and self-pride sense of community in our town," Nelson explained in a YouTube video promoting the event.
Personalized nutcrackers, each given a number from 1-200, are sponsored by individuals or businesses. Each one takes more than 40 hours to design, carve and paint.
"Hermey the little elf is one of my favorite because he's little, cute and he's from "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," Fedoryka said.
Organizers said most of the tourists visiting Steubenville love to take nutcracker selfies, choose their favorite nutcrackers and see as many — or as few — as they'd like, utilizing the detailed map that makes finding each creation easy (free comprehensive maps list every nutcracker and provide a schedule of events included along Fourth, Third, Adams and Washington streets).
Looking for Dean Martin, who hailed from Steubenville? He's #186.
Rosie the Riverter? She's #80 and The Terminutter is #197.
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For the Nelsons, helping to boost tourism and businesses in the downtown district is a priority.
"In 2015, there were two businesses open downtown here and there was nothing to do. Now, there's more than 15 open. Since we started, there were 35 vacant buildings and all of those have been purchased and are being renovated," Fedoryka said. "That's one the great joys of watching people and just seeing the smiles we can bring to everybody."
New nutcrackers this year include Glinda the Good Witch, Mushroom Man, Pinecone Girl, The Reiterlein, Captain Nemo and Princess Beauty.
Free parking is offered in four public lots.
Bob and Kathy Hershey took a daycation last Saturday to from Columbia Station, Ohio, to Steubenville.
The couple first grabbed coffee and doughnuts and then spent about two hours walking to view all 200 nutcrackers.
"It's a hidden gem. I heard about it on a Facebook group. We've seen all of the nutcrackers. If you look at each one and the meaning of each one it takes time. It's really cool," Kathy Hershey said.
It was the first time the couple visited Steubenville and they recognized its efforts to revitalize.
"It's walkable and we had dinner at Naples and it was amazing," Bob Hershey said. "I hope it helps to revive the town."
Naples, the 99-year old family-owned authentic Italian restaurant located at 329 North St., serves up hearty heapings of pasta in a no-frills atmosphere.
Dean Martin used to frequent the eatery and Naples server Carol White said the nutcracker invasion has been great for business.
"It's a good thing in a lot of ways. They all have a good time. It really builds up downtown Steubenville."
White said it's "the place" to eat in Steubenville, under fifth-generational ownership.
During the village season, Naples sees 300-400 customers daily.
"My favorite nutcracker is Mr. Antonio sponsored by Naples," White said. "I also like Peppa Pig. This village has put Steubenville on the map. People talk about it year-round."
She said in the beginning, some folks doubted the appeal of life-sized nutcrackers on display.
"Some people said, 'Ain't no way people are going to walk around in the cold to look at wooden men, but they were wrong,'" White said. "It makes me feel wonderful to be a part of this. It's nice to know people are coming here to our little town.
Billie Keller of Castle Shannon visited for the first time last Saturday.
"It's an easy drive and we did a little walk-around. There's a Steelers nutcracker and that's been our favorite," Keller said.
Adahsynne Stuckey also visited last Saturday from Salem, Ohio, with friends and family.
She gravitated towards a large, vibrant peacock nutcracker.
"It's very colorful and unique," Stuckey said.
Joyce Hanz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joyce by email at jhanz@triblive.com or via Twitter .
