John Schirmer works on a pair of figures from the Elferdinck Project.
By MIKE NORTON
In a vast room of stained and faded brick, John Schirmer sits beside a 30-foot Christmas tree that reaches toward the shadowy ceiling. Patiently, he carves a huge block of Michigan pine into what will become the head and body of a rocking horse.
Every December for the past 25 years, Schirmer has returned to Traverse City to carve a new Christmas sculpture at The Candle Factory, a gift shop located in a century-old building that once housed the city gasworks. It’s a place rich with scents of spiced candles, aromatic oils and sachets — and when December comes around it becomes even more evocative, thanks to Schirmer and his whimsical sculptures. Inevitably he attracts a crowd of eager onlookers who love to watch him at work and listen to his easygoing conversation.
“I once lived in Traverse City, so I love coming back every year,” says Schirmer, who now lives in Iowa. “It’s a real treat for me.”
This labor of love, known as The Elferdinck Project, began in 1984 as a collaboration between Schirmer and store owner John Teichman. Each of Schirmer’s annual creations - which already include a lifelike collection of “village elders” and a three-panel altarpiece — illustrates some important artifact in the life of a fictional 19th century woodcarver created by Teichman, and many of them require more than 100 hours of work.
Schirmer’s return to Traverse City each winter (this year he’ll be back Dec. 14-19) has become a local Christmas tradition, and like many of our other holiday customs it manages to be unpretentious, unlooked-for, and heartwarming.
People here on the north coast of Lake Michigan take their Christmas fun seriously. Until fairly recently, these resort towns pretty much emptied out after Labor Day, leaving the exhausted natives with lots of time on their hands to contemplate the prospect of another long, quiet winter. They responded by putting a great deal of energy and creativity in their holiday observances.
Times have changed, of course. Thanks to a growing population and a thriving winter recreation industry, pur region is quite lively even in midwinter. Fortunately, many of the traditional celebrations are still going strong - and a few more have even been added.
At Northport, Santa still pays a regular visit to the remote Grand Traverse Lighthouse, just as he did when snowbound families lived there. In Leland, local artisans still hold a traditional Christmas market in the old building that once housed Michigan State University’s summer art program. And in Traverse City itself, thousands of visitors come to watch model trains race through elaborate miniatures landscapes in the town’s 1903 Carnegie Library.
Each year, residents of the village of Northport, near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, decorate the Grand Traverse Lighthouse for Christmas as it was celebrated by the families who lived there in the early 20th century. The annual Christmas at the Lighthouse celebration culminates Dec. 6 with a traditional visit from Santa Claus and a Coast Guard helicopter delivering treats to the assembled youngsters. The last-day program includes refreshments and entertainment by local musicians.
One of Traverse City’s most charming Yuletide events is the annual “Inn at Christmastime” open house, a fundraiser for the Grand Traverse Historical Society held at the Wellington Inn. For the past seven years, area florists and artisans have literally ‘decked the halls’ of this beautifully restored 1905 neoclassical mansion with a spectacular display of holiday designs and decorations. This year’s event will be held Dec. 4-6, and guests will be able to tour the entire mansion, enjoy holiday entertainment by local musicians, and take refreshments in the third floor ballroom.
An entirely different kind of holiday tradition is on display at the Grand Traverse Heritage Center, housed in the former city library. It’s the annual Festival of Trains, a delightful event that attracts thousands of visitors each year to watch dozens of working model train layouts created and operated by local model train aficionados, so extensive that they take up several rooms. This year’s festival will be held Dec. 19 to Jan. 3.
Traverse City is an intensely musical community — thanks in part to the nearby presence of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, which means our annual slate of holiday concerts is among the best in the country. One of the area’s longtime musical traditions is the annual Messiah Community Sing. For 30 years, Traverse City residents have gathered to sing Handel’s magnificent Christmas oratorio at Central United Methodist Church, joined by an 18-member orchestra, organist and guest soloists. This year’s event takes place Dec. 6.
Each year, the students and staff at Interlochen put on a holiday special for the community. Often it’s a ballet - The Nutcracker, Coppelia or the Sleeping Beauty. This year, for a change, they’re preparing a production of the popular Broadway musical version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, with words and music by Alan Mencken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid) and Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime) The show will be presented Dec. 11-13 at Interlochen’s Corson Auditorium.
On the weekend of Dec. 12-13, the Traverse Symphony Orchestra presents its hugely popular “Old-Fashioned Holiday” concert, in which conductor Lonnie Klein leads the performers - and the audience — in a program of treasured Christmas classics, carols, medleys and holiday favorites. On the following weekend, it’s the turn of Traverse City’s other orchestra, the Encore Wind Symphony, which presents a Dec. 19 program called “Wind & Song” that combines the choir from the nearby McBain Rural Agricultural School with its own low brass version of the popular “Tubachristmas” program.
Of course, every village and town in the region puts on some sort of carol-singing event or community performance, but there’s something particularly splendid about the two-day Christmas Concert held each year in the isolated village of Northport, at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula. It’s a perfect blend of small-town enthusiasm and first-class musical talent, and never fails to sell out. This year’s concert, held Dec. 12-13, features remarkably well-honed performances by the Village Voices and the Northport Community Band.
Tags: Grand Traverse, Grand Traverse Lighthouse, Michigan, Traverse City, Traverse Symphony Orchestra
