Leavenworth, Washington

Leavenworth is a small town of about 2000 people that was struggling in the 50’s and early 60’s and decided to go Bavarian. According to wikipedia:

The city struggled until 1962, when the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed to transform the city into a mock Bavarian village to revitalize its economy.^[3] Owen and Pauline Watson, owners of a business on Front Street, formed the committee after visiting Solvang, California in 1958 and thought it was an excellent idea for Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is home to the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum, which opened in 1995 and contains more than 5,000 nutcrackers dating from prehistoric to modern.^[4] Leavenworth hosts an annual Oktoberfest celebration.^[5] Leavenworth's transformation into a theme town was inspired, and assisted, by Solvang, California. Later the Washington town of Winthrop followed Leavenworth's example and adopted a town theme.^[6

Teri found some gems for the grandkids and I found Apple strudel and soft pretzels and Bavarian sausage and again apple strudel.

In the afternoon we went to the Nutcracker Museum. This museum contained over 4000 nutcrackers!! We started off with a 18 minute video then off to see nutcrackers from the 1400’s until the present.