Natalie's Everyday Heroes: Bruce the Spruce brings back holiday memories in Sheboygan

 

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- If you grew up in Sheboygan, a key Christmas memory is visiting Bruce the Spruce.

Each holiday season, he lived at Prange's department store, which then became Yonkers and finally Boston Store.

We found that Bruce is creating new Christmas memories at the Sheboygan County Museum, to the delight of young and old.

The elves of Santaland are busy helping Santa get ready for Christmas. The scenes at Holiday Memories 2024 are recreating the holiday magic from the windows of Prange's department store.

"Prange's was the heart and soul of Sheboygan," said volunteer Tom Weigand.

They show the elves in the workshop and on the assembly line.

"And I think a lot of people want to come and relive it and see what it was like when they were kids," Weigand said.

But there's one undisputed star of the show, and it isn't Santa.

"Hi, guys," a chipper voice greets visitors. "My name is Bruce the Spruce! I'm a magic talking Christmas tree."

"Bruce is a great ambassador for us. Just about any person that comes in here, the first thing Bruce does is talks to them," said Brett Lobello, the museum's executive director.

On the day CBS 58 came to the museum, the visitors were from Montessori Children's House of Sheboygan.

"Well, let's sing Jingle Bells, okay," Bruce said to the kids.

"They were just mesmerized," said teacher Krista Bengtson.

Bengtson was just as excited as the little ones.

"And it was just my favorite thing. I couldn't wait. It wasn't Santa. I wanted to go see Bruce," she said, remembering her own childhood visits to the department store. 

And that's a reaction Tom Weigand is used to.

"If I bring it up to people, they go, you're Bruce the Spruce," he said.

Weigand is one of the volunteers who brings Bruce to life.

"I look forward to it all year," he said. 

He's got jokes.

"I grow every year. I don't get taller, but I get wider," he told the kids from inside the pine tree.

And he's got a way with kids big and small.

"Oh, that tickles so much," he laughed as the kids tickled the tree.

He said there are only a few things to remember when embodying Bruce the Spruce.

"To know your audience. That's the big thing," he said.

He's been playing Bruce the Spruce for the past six years.

"I'll tell you, when I go inside, it's like, I'm on," Weigand said. 

Welcoming those celebrating holiday memories or making new ones.

"Merry Christmas, Bruce," the kids yelled as they got ready to leave the museum.

"If you grew up in Sheboygan, everybody who went to Prange's saw Bruce the Spruce. And it's just a childhood memory that now we can share for generations," Bengtson said.

Bengtson said she is working on a children's book about Bruce the Spruce.

As for Weigand and Bruce, you can catch them at the Sheboygan County Museum's Holiday Memories until Dec. 30. For more information, click here. 

If you'd like to nominate an everyday hero, send Natalie a message at [email protected].