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Local carver creates Santas to help Washington Courthouse restoration |
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Wednesday, 05 December 2007 |
Thirteen hand-carved Santas were delivered to the Washington County Historic Courthouse in Stillwater for sale during this holiday season.
It is the fifth year that local carver Ron Nelson has masterfully created the items, which he donates to help raise funds for the restoration of the oldest standing courthouse in Minnesota.
The hand carved Santas can be purchased at the historic courthouse,101 W. Pine St. All proceeds from the sales will go into the restoration fund.
Since 2003, Nelson has designed and carved a different Santa each year and donated 13 of them to the courthouse. However, one is kept for the courthouse collection with the rest being sold to eager buyers, many of whom are now collecting the prized Santas.
When asked why Nelson does this, he first replied, “Enjoyment. It’s fun to see people get excited about what you create and it keeps me out of my wife’s hair.”
Nelson went on to note that love for his hometown drives him to volunteer. As for the courthouse, Nelson said he believes in what is done at the courthouse and in the importance of preserving history.
“When you come back to the community you grew up in and you see all the buildings that are gone,” he says,” you want to help preserve the remaining buildings.”
Nelson was born and raised in Stillwater and received a degree in industrial arts from Winona State University. He moved away to teach in Maryland and Wisconsin. Nelson settled in Fond du Lac, WI., where he was a teacher, ran special programs for the district and eventually became an assistant principal.
After retiring in 1996, Nelson and his wife Mary moved back to Stillwater and purchased the house on Broadway St., where he was raised.
One day, when looking through furniture that belonged to his parents, Nelson found a carving he had done in the seventh grade as a gift for his father. This sparked his interest in woodcarving. Nelson visited Ingebretsen’s Scandinavian store to see their carvings; then bought a book on carving and his son gave him a set of chisels.
The rest is history.
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