THE ‘SHEENER  —  DECEMBER 2018

Ahhh magical snowy December, you have arrived. Glensheen during the holiday season has an extra glimmer. With 25 Christmas trees and hundreds of feet of garland it’s easy to imagine the Congdon family spending the holidays in the mansion.

There’s no shortage of ways to experience the Christmas mansion this month. Here’s what we have lined up for you:

Events

Duluth Winter Village | December 1 & 2

Sunday Funday | December 2, 9, 16, 30

Wreath Making at Glensheen | December 5, 12, 19

Glensheen Christmas PhotoMeet | December 8

The Great Minnesota Cookie Book & Talk | December 15

Ongoing

Christmas at Glensheen | November 17 — January 6, 2019

Candlelight Tours | Various dates available

The Great Glensheen Outdoor Tacky Christmas Display | Various dates available

Closures

CLOSED — Christmas Eve & Christmas Day| December 24 & 25

The Duluth Winter Village is a FREE two-day community event held annually the first weekend in December. Duluth Winter Village is THIS WEEKEND! Have you made your plans to attend yet?

Here are all the details:

WHEN: Sat, Dec 1 and Sun, Dec 2: 10am — 5pm both days

WHERE: On the grounds of Glensheen, in Duluth, Minn.

WHERE TO PARK: Free parking at UMD in Lot B (follow signs from Woodland Ave) or at Duluth East High School (40th Ave E) with 5 shuttle buses running 8:00 am — 6:00 pm both days.

WHO: 40+ local vendors in collaboration with Duluth Loves Local

WHAT: Shop local in a truly magnificent setting! Browse vendors selling from locally-built wood cabins lining the walkways of Glensheen’s beautiful grounds. Plus enjoy hot food and drink, beer and cocktails, carol singing by the Duluth East Choralaires, live animals from Cook’s Country Connection, complimentary s’mores by Super One Foods, bonfires by Stoked Firewood, and much more. Tours of the mansion are highly recommended: buy your tickets today at glensheen.org before they sell out!

WHY: It’s about celebrating our community and supporting our local businesses, while getting outside to welcome winter.

Wednesdays in December 6:00 pm — 8:00 pm **First come, first serve. Capped at 50**

Back by popular demand, Glensheen is collaborating with our University friends at Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center again to make Christmas wreaths! All the materials used are gathered from Boulder Lake and proceeds will go to educational programming at the learning center. Come get in the festive mood with us and make a holiday wreath at Glensheen.

This event will take place in the mansion and is from 6:00–8:00 pm. You will have the opportunity to make a wreath for $20. Payment (cash or check only, NO credit) will be accepted the night of the event.

Saturday, December 8th 7:00 am — 9:00 am FREE

Calling all photographers! The mansion will be open for you to explore and capture our 25+ Christmas Trees, hundreds of feet of garland and of course maybe snap a picture of a hidden elf or two. We will be ready to go with coffee from Duluth Coffee Company.

We love to re-share photos from these events on our social media pages! If you are sharing your images on social media please tag @Glensheen and use #glensheenchristmas. A prize for the Best Photo will be awarded! The best photo will win a Glensheen Candlelight Tour for two. In order, below are photos by Willowmaker Images, Kathleen Wolleat, and Nancy Lindberg.

Public tours of the mansion begin at 9:00 am. Therefore, the event will promptly end at 9:00 am. You are welcome to roam the grounds afterward!

Thank you to our friends at the Duluth Superior Camera Club, Destination Duluth, MNCommunity Duluth and MNCommunity for partnering with us!

Due to overwhelming interest and capacity in the mansion, we are capping the event at the first 75 people. Please save these places for those who are intending to use this as a photography opportunity. First come, first serve. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that this will enhance the experience for those attending the event. We are so thankful for all who are interested in attending!

The Great Minnesota Cookie Book & Talk is coming to Glensheen!

Authors Rick Nelson and Lee Svitak Dean (Star Tribune fame) will give a presentation on their journey of gathering award winning recipes from the Star Tribune’s Holiday Cookie contest. The Great Minnesota Cookie Book will be available for purchase and the authors will be available for signing.

A cookie event would not be complete without a cookie! Glensheen will provide Clara Congdon’s shortbread cookies.

Saturday, December 15th

2:00 pm — 4:00 pm

*FREE and open to the public

2:00–2:30 pm Presentation — Winter Garden

2:30–4:00 pm Authors available for signing — Gift Shop

The Great Minnesota Cookie Book will be available for purchase after the event while supplies last.

*No event registration is required.

More about the The Great Minnesota Cookie Book:

A celebration of the rich traditions, creativity, and taste of the region, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book collects the best-loved recipes and baking lore from fifteen years of the Star Tribune’s popular holiday cookie contest. From French-Swiss butter cookies to cherry pinwheels, the recipes in this book recall memories of holidays past and inspire the promise of happy gatherings to come.

See a 39-room mansion decked out with 25 Christmas Trees today and every day until January 6th. With 25 Christmas Trees, 25 hidden elves and hundreds of feet of garland Glensheen is the Christmas Mansion of the north.

Come see why Glensheen is in the running for the best decorated historic home tour in the country.

The 39-room mansion was nominated for “Best Holiday Historic Home Tour” in USA TODAY’s contest, the 2018 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards. Help us make the cut! It’s an underdog story. Everyone likes an underdog, right?

Glensheen is the only historic home in MN to have made the shortlist among 20 historic home giants in USA Today’s 10Best series. Glensheen is in the company of historic home giants like: Biltmore, Hearst Castle and Elvis Presley’s Graceland.

You don’t have to register to vote! VOTE HERE, EVERY DAY UNTIL DEC. 10 voteglensheen.org

Find yourself in the mansion being guided by the lights of the Christmas trees. This gorgeous display will surely make it onto your yearly Christmas bucket list, as you are fully immersed into what it must have been like for the Congdons on a magical Christmas evening.

Candlelight Christmas Tours will begin on 11/23/18.

On this guided tour, each group is accompanied by two guides who will illuminate pieces throughout the house. Glensheen requests that guests do not bring their own flashlights.

Classy meets wacky at Glensheen Mansion this Christmas season. The display might be seen as tacky to some — and that’s intentional. As Glensheen welcomes more family friendly events, the brand-new outdoor display is already a favorite for kids.

Visitors will walk the grounds beginning in the Formal Garden or “snowflake garden,” come upon the “the fountain of sharks,” then will pass into an ornament and candy cane-lined “Mardi Gras,” forest as well as a path lit by Japanese lanterns, and the “Snowman Social,”

Along the way, they’ll encounter 62 snowmen, eight bears, three beavers, three sharks, two foxes, one unicorn, one Santa band, one yeti and one elf car.

All of this between the backdrop of the warmly lit mansion on one side and the sound of the Lake Superior surf on the other.

It’s all a part of the intentionally Tacky Outdoor Christmas Display. The price to experience the Great Glensheen Outdoor Tacky Christmas Display is $5, the same as a normal grounds pass. All mansion tours include the admission price of the outdoor display.

We hope you’ll join us for all of the Christmasness at our epic Christmas mansion of the north, Glensheen Mansion.

For tour times and additional information, please visit us at glensheen.org.