Southern Village to Take Gnome Census

Garden gnome adopted as Strasburg village mascot two years ago

In this census year, it's important that every man, woman, child and gnome gets counted.

Wait.  Gnome?

The roughly 200 households in the small village of Strasburg, Ill., which sits about 80 miles southeast of Springfield, will be visited this weekend and queried about the number, age, sex, and origin of the garden gnomes in their yards.

The ceramic and cement figures of the mythical creatures have proliferated in the two years since the community chose the gnome as the village mascot, leading some to question how many there actually are.

"There’s a town in Wisconsin that calls itself the troll capital of the world," said Strasburg resident Les Sentel, according to the Effingham Daily News. "We thought we could be the gnome capital."

The notoriety appears to be working.  Since the gnomes arrived, the village has won a Governor's Hometown Award and seen two new business open, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The results will be published in the village newsletter, aptly named the "Strasburg Gnome News."


 

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