I had been in Elkhorn, Wisconsin for more than 24 hours and not one person had asked me to help save their family business or set up for that night’s tree lighting.
Karen Fulbright-Anderson greeted me at the door with a brownie and gave me a tour of the lovely inn that she owns with her husband, John Anderson.
But I was the only one staying at the inn that night, so despite the romantic setting, there was no chance of a love story there.
There director Chad Robinson told me the moniker dates back to a “March of Time” TV segment in 1952 that featured Elkhorn during the holidays.
According to Elkhorn Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chris Clapper, the episode caught the eye of a Ford Motor Co.
The Chamber of Commerce recognized the opportunity this fame presented and in 1996 commissioned artist Jan Castle-Reed to create new paintings that “depict the spirit of Elkhorn” every year, according to the Chamber’s Visitors Guide.
Wallem passed away in 2019 and is also remembered with an inscription on a Santa decoration that’s on the town square.
With the Christmas Card Town story mostly told, I headed out to continue my own Christmas movie story and see this famous town square for myself.
That also would require I actually had coffee, so I finished my stroll at Friends on the Square, part café and ice cream parlor, part boutique.
But I didn’t think my brother would let me borrow my niece and nephew for the evening on such short notice, so instead I headed to Duesterbeck’s Brewery, which was hosting its own grown-up Christmas market.
Owners Laura and Ben Johnson converted the 150-year-old farm that had been in Laura’s family for five generations into a brewery that opened in 2019.
As with most shopping locales, this one was filled with women, or women with their husbands in tow – not a single flannel-clad man selling his homemade honey in sight.
I found parking farther away and walked along the wooden decorations set up around the square – Santa’s Toy Shop, Santa in a locomotive pulling cars filled with toys, a snowman family, a sign on each corner marking Elkhorn as the Christmas Card Town.
Everyone clapped, cheered and rushed to get a photo with Santa in front of the tree before he left the square via a horse-drawn carriage.
Elkhorn might not be the scene of a Hallmark movie anytime soon, but it certainly makes for a great Christmas card.