What are the hardest, and most amazing, holiday décor to put up at Mall of America? From giant toys to Enchanted Snowflakes, Clayton Omberg and Chris Grap share their stories on how they and the many helper elves decorate 5.6 million square feet of MOA for the holidays. To hear the entire conversation check out So Much More Ep. 75: Deck the Mall.
Presented by Bloomington Minnesota Travel and Tourism the official destination marketing organization for the city of Bloomington, Minn.
[00:00:00] What is your favorite holiday decor to put up here at Mall of America?
[00:00:04] I really like putting up the large ornaments.
[00:00:06] Okay.
[00:00:07] Because they're the hardest and I think they just look amazing in there.
[00:00:10] The difficulty, the challenge with them, I like a good challenge.
[00:00:14] Yeah.
[00:00:14] They do look amazing.
[00:00:16] What's the one you dread every single year?
[00:00:18] You can say it.
[00:00:19] The snowflakes.
[00:00:21] I'm sorry.
[00:00:23] So please appreciate the snowflakes when you see them, right?
[00:00:26] That'll be so much fun.
[00:00:27] Chris, what's your favorite holiday decor here at the mall?
[00:00:30] Sorry.
[00:00:31] Probably the snowflakes.
[00:00:32] Okay.
[00:00:34] No, it's tough to say because it really kind of depends on what time of the season we're
[00:00:39] in.
[00:00:40] When it's Black Friday, I love the atrium.
[00:00:43] I think-
[00:00:43] It's beautiful.
[00:00:43] It's fantastic and to have so much activity there as we transition later into the season.
[00:00:49] The rotunda is beautiful, but you really just can't beat walking around and taking it all
[00:00:54] in.
[00:00:55] There's so much to take in.
[00:00:56] But if I had to pick one thing, I'd say the snowflakes, they're unique to this property.
[00:01:00] They're dynamic.
[00:01:01] They're not just a holiday decoration.
[00:01:04] They're seasonal decoration.
[00:01:05] And when they start to do their show and guests are there and don't expect it, I love that we
[00:01:10] can surprise guests with that.
[00:01:12] So I thank you for enduring that year after year.
[00:01:17] Why don't you share a few other numbers?
[00:01:18] I see you have a sheet with some numbers.
[00:01:20] Just share some of the size and scope of the ornaments and holiday decor that's here.
[00:01:25] Well, the large ornaments, there's 22 of them total.
[00:01:28] 14, we actually hang up in the air and then the other ones sit on the ground or throughout
[00:01:34] the amusement park.
[00:01:35] A lot of them were repainted to be Nickelodeon, SpongeBob specific characters in Nickelodeon
[00:01:39] universe.
[00:01:40] And those are eight feet in diameter and the smaller ones are five feet in diameter.
[00:01:45] Okay.
[00:01:45] So we have seven nutcrackers, the 44 foot trees.
[00:01:49] There are close to 1200 branches on that.
[00:01:52] Individual branches that get hung every year.
[00:01:54] That's a lot.
[00:01:54] That's a lot of fluffing.
[00:01:56] Yeah.
[00:01:57] And that is daytime work too.
[00:01:59] So bike rack off the rotunda so people can come and watch those being assembled too.
[00:02:03] And they do.
[00:02:03] And that is, that's fun that we're able to do that.
[00:02:05] And more than one mall walker stops and says, hey, you got to fix this over here.
[00:02:10] Do they do that for you guys too?
[00:02:11] No, you're good at night.
[00:02:13] Yeah, in the morning when the mall walkers show up, they'll be like, hey, we noticed
[00:02:16] this was up and it wasn't, wasn't correct.
[00:02:18] You know, light bars are out.
[00:02:20] You forgot that one or forgot this one.
[00:02:22] So they'll, they'll point us out.
[00:02:24] Nevermind the 99 things we did right.
[00:02:26] Thanks for noticing that light isn't doing it.
[00:02:28] They love it.
[00:02:29] They own this place, right?
[00:02:30] They have an ownership in it.
[00:02:31] So they want to make it look perfect too.