Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Family builds Christmas cottage for children this holiday season

A local family has taken it upon itself to promote Prescott this holiday season.

The Carl Hurd family is building a Christmas display on its property on Second Street and once it's finished, will invite the public to come and see it. Hurd said between 5,000-6,000 lights have been strung up on a PVC tunnel, which leads to a Christmas cottage the family is building.

The idea, he said, is to promote Prescott and try to get people to shop locally, while also having a good time during the holiday season. What the Hurds will be doing is passing out stuffed animals and toys at the Christmas cottage when it's finished. Hurd said they are thinking about limiting the toys to children 10 and under.

For years, he said, they tried to find a family and help it out during the Christmas holidays, but this didn't always work out as planned. So, this year, it was decided to do something different.

Hurd had the idea of putting Mrs. Claus in a rocking chair surrounded by stuffed toys. However, his wife took over the concept and it grew to the lighted tunnel and Christmas cottage. They had seen a light tunnel on television, but it was operated via computer. This one will have plenty of lights, but they won't be computer generated.

The tunnel is constructed of one-inch PVC pipe, which Hurd said would be all right unless there's a major ice storm between now and Christmas.

No date has been set for the opening of the Christmas cottage, but Hurd said, they may turn the lights on beforehand from 5:30-9:30 p.m.

He said he will be checking with Prescott Police Chief Sam Reeder about the possibility of having someone there to handle traffic. He will also be talking with Jon Chadwell, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, about ways to promote the idea.

"We wanted to do something spectacular and get people elsewhere interested in seeing it," Hurd said."We want to promote Prescott, because the town you save may be your own."