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Show by LORI CUMPSTON t Bavaria in Washington Twilight descends on If you believe in miracles, then you might think the town of Leavenworth, Wash., (pop. 2,074) has received more than its fair share of magic dust. In the 1960s, the community in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains was living on g hub of the brink of extinction; the commerce all but dried up, its people moving away. The logging industry was going downhill, says once-thrivin- Pauline Watson, 75, a native of Leavenworth. The mill Bavarian-theme- d Eiha, the high school newspaper called the Yodeler, and snow-cappe- d mountains surrounding the forested hamlet. Enter the late Heinz Ulbricht, a designer from Bavaria who had moved to the West Coast in the 1960s and heard about the Leavenworth undertaking. Ulbricht offered to help, transforming some of the first buildings, including Alpine Electric a busi- ness owned by Watson and her late husband, Owen into the Bavarian motif. pulled out many years Shop owners nervously began to mongage their before, and the railroad that homes and renovate store- originally built the town moved to Wenatchee. The final straw for the central Washington town fronts into chalets with was a worked. Today, more than 30 years later, the alpine highway-widenin- g project that cut travel time to Wenatchee to just under Chain stores a half-hou- r. blooming window boxes. The experiment in small-tow- n revitalization village draws more than 1 million tourists a year from all over the world popped up like mushrooms, and has become a pillar drawing folks from neighof tourism in the Pacific boring towns to shop. Thar was the death of Northwest. The big joke is menthe town," Watson says. tion a word to LeavenThe fruit industry was all that was up here. We had worth and they'll make a festival out of it, quips 25 empty building spaces War son, who ... it was definitely dying." the Sleddere eagerly sample a downtown slope. But adversity often fos- Inn with her sister and two of her children. ters ingenuity. An idea surfaced no one's sure just Leavenworths bounty of events includes Maifesc, who or where it came from of turning Leavenworth the Autumn Leaf Festival, Oktoberfest, Bavarian into a Bavarian village. The alpine influence was too strong for the people Fest, Christkindlmarkt, and the popular Christmas of Leavenworth to ignore, what with the town newsLighting Festival. The town even put an ad in the paper looking for a town crier. paper one of the oldest in the state called the co-ow-ns Alpc-nRos- Page 8 American Profile e Leavenworth in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. "We march to a different drummer, Watson says. Leavenworth is also home to the Nutcracker Museum, which houses one of the largest collections of nutcrackers in the world. A bakery called the Gingerbread Factory, another house popular tourist attraction, is a century-ol- d decorated to look like a gingerbread house. Its exterior is painted a warm gingerbread brown with trim made to look like icing, while candy canes stretch from the top of each porch pillar to the roofline. Inside, a checkerboard design d adorned with peppermint candies on the hardwood floor greets visitors. hand-painte- The bakery is the brainchild of CaroLAnn Seaman, 43, who decades ago made frequent pilgrimages to Leavenworth as a college student. Seaman started by selling her gingerbread houses on a street comer in Seattle. In 1988, she made the move to Leavenworth to open up her store. Over the years, she has expanded to include a gift shop, espresso caff, and a full lunch menu. The bakery has shipped baked goods to Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Canada, but the bulk of its mail-ordbusiness comes from the East Coast. Many requests come from tourists who have visited Leavenworth on their vacations. One of my brothers tells me, You live a vacation, Seaman says. We are our own little bubble. er Lori Cumpston is a freelance uriter from Grand Junction, Colo. GETTING THEBE.', - infer-mation,c- aS (509) k a Leavenworth is 13$ miles east of Seattle. For more 543-SC- 37 or visit the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce website at wwwJeaenwonhjorf. T ' |