The Story Behind Our Nutcracker Doll Auction

Every holiday season, the Nutcracker comes to life on stage — but there’s another little Nutcracker tradition that has become just as special to us at Fargo-Moorhead Ballet.

Our hand-painted Nutcracker Doll Auction.

Before COVID, our company dancers would hand-paint a limited number of Nutcracker dolls each season. These one-of-a-kind creations were offered for sale, and they quickly became a favorite holiday keepsake. They were incredibly popular — so popular, in fact, that many people never had the opportunity to get their hands on one.

Then COVID changed everything.

When our production traditions were suddenly turned upside down, we had to get creative. And in the midst of a very uncertain time, the idea for our Nutcracker Doll Auction was born.

Instead of simply offering the dolls for sale, we decided to auction them off. What started as a creative solution during a difficult season turned into a huge hit — and a new FMBallet tradition was born.

So, we kept it going.

Today, our annual Nutcracker Doll Auction is a fun way for our audience, supporters, and Nutcracker lovers to take home something truly special: an original, hand-painted work of art created by one of our own FMBallet company members. No two dolls are exactly alike, and each one carries a little piece of the season with it.

But there’s another important reason we continue this tradition.

Producing The Classic Nutcracker — and supporting a professional ballet company — takes a tremendous amount of work and resources. FMBallet relies on ticket sales as well as generous donations and community support to help cover the costs of our productions and year-round company operations. Fundraisers like our Nutcracker Doll Auction provide another small but meaningful piece of that support, helping us continue to bring live ballet to our community.

And honestly, we love that you are part of it.

Whether you've been collecting our Nutcrackers for years or this is your first time bidding, your participation helps support FMBallet while giving you the chance to take home something that can’t be found anywhere else.

A little holiday tradition. A little piece of FMBallet. And a whole lot of Nutcracker magic.

Thank you for being part of our story — and happy bidding!

About the FMBallet

Fargo-Moorhead Ballet is a regional professional dance performance company recognized and respected nationally for its original choreography, employment of quality artists, and the continuing creative development of the company’s educational and outreach programming. FMBallet presents a multidisciplinary repertoire from ballet, jazz, moderns, and tap, under artistic direction of Matt Gasper.

The FMBallet provides professional dance performance opportunities for Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo and surrounding areas. As a company member, dancers ages 14 through adult are able to train all season long and be featured in our major production and projects. We also invite all area dancers and movers ages 6 through adult to audition and dance alongside our professional company. We do not charge an activity fee to any participating dancer. Our fee free program is supported but ticket sales, donations, and sponsors. If you would like to support our company make a donation today so we can continue to provide amazing dance performance opportunities to dancers in our community at no cost.

2026 Nutcracker Doll Auction