GLADBROOK — Those in search of some local entertainment can leave their fairy godmother on read and head on over to Gladbrook’s Matchstick Marvels Tourist Center — now open for the season! — to check out the newest work-in-progress, Cinderella’s enchanted castle.

As is tradition, Matchstick Marvels, which features the work of local craftsman Pat Acton, opened for the 2025 season on April 1. And while Acton’s Cinderella castle model will not be completed until the summer of 2026, visitors to Gladbrook’s City Centre can view construction progress through fall.

Acton

Acton chose to make the Disney castle after conducting an informal poll on the Matchstick Marvels Facebook page last October.

“We invite Matchstick Marvels enthusiasts to share their thoughts,” he wrote. “Should the next matchstick creation be Cinderella’s castle… OR a Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer?”

The post received a whopping 165 comments and 17 shares.

“Loving the AI summary of this discussion,” Acton’s daughter-in-law Tara Acton commented alongside a screenshot of a Meta AI summary which read: “Commenters are divided between Cinderella’s castle and the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer as the next matchstick creation. One commenter suggests building the castle on top of the Star Destroyer to satisfy both camps. Most votes lean towards Cinderella’s castle, but Star Wars fans passionately advocate for their preferred choice.”

Several commenters encouraged Acton to build the castle, reminding him he’s been “wanting to do it forever.”

“You’ve talked about doing the castle for years,” Gladbrook’s JoAnn Ruopp wrote, “but I know what a big Star Wars fan you are! How about a smaller version of both with the matchsticks you have left?”

“Small?” Acton replied playfully, “JoAnn, that’s nearly blaspheme!”

A few days later on Oct. 15, Acton announced the verdict: “An enchanted castle is coming to Matchstick Marvels in 2025-2026. Get out your Mickey Mouse ears, and put your light sabers away for a few more months. Sorry, Darth Vader, but your new Star Destroyer order has been delayed by a production conflict. Don’t worry, Star Wars fans. Look for a Star Destroyer to be near you in 2027-2028.”

Last summer, Acton finished up his 79th matchstick creation with the completion of Courthouse Square from the film “Back to the Future.” Per previous reporting by Sun Courier contributing writer Jeff Morrison, the model was Acton’s largest by square footage, using around 723,000 matchsticks and taking 16 months to build. It was also Acton’s final contracted piece for Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, bound for display in one of the entertainment franchise’s many museums.

For those who missed out on Back to the Future, Matchstick Marvels continues to display a wide variety of Acton’s models, but the countdown to his final creation is creeping ever closer as he eyes retirement – much to the chagrin of those who turn up year after year to check in on the master’s latest work.

“[U]ntil my breath or the matchsticks run out,” Acton said in March 2024 when asked about retirement.

Acton placed a final matchstick order with his now-shuttered Cloquet, Minn. supplier back in 2017, according to previous Sun Courier reporting. The match factory was the last one located in the U.S.

As of March 2024, Acton estimated he had approximately 2 million matchsticks in his stockpile.

But there is good news to report, Back to the Future was the final model destined for far-off places. Anything Acton crafts now – including Cinderella’s castle – will stay in Gladbrook.

“[A]t the time of this posting over 200,000 matchsticks have been used in the castle’s construction,” he wrote on Feb. 1. “Plan to visit Matchstick Marvels this summer to see the castle in progress.”

In other words, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, Acton is ready to wow you!

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Matchstick Marvels, located at 319 Second Street in downtown Gladbrook, is open seven days a week now through Nov. 30 — closed Easter and Thanksgiving –from 1-5 p.m.

Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children aged 5-12, and free for those under age 5. Cash only.

For more information visit https://www.matchstickmarvels.com.