Northlandia: Gnomes mysteriously appeared in Gilbert yards this summer

GILBERT — Dylon Horne didn't know what to think. The Gilbert resident opened up his front door one May morning this past year to find a hand-sewn 2-foot-tall fabric gnome sitting on his front steps. Attached was a note which read "You've been gnomed."

"I wasn't sure if it was a neighborhood tradition or a fundraiser, so I posted about it in the Gilbert Facebook group," Horne said. "I came to find out that I was the first person to ever be gnomed. I had no clue who did it."

Horne's may have been the first post in the Concerned Citizens of Gilbert Facebook group about finding a gnome in their front yard, but it was far from the last. Over the next several months, around 20 different people would post their thanks to the anonymous gnome creator. One such person was Amanda Olson, a new resident of Gilbert who found the gnome a welcome surprise.

Contributed / Dylon Horne

"I was having a bad day and I had run my oldest to her friend's house when I came back and saw something sitting by my door. I thought, 'What the heck?'" Olson said. "I actually almost started crying because it felt like it was personally made for me. It was red and black and it had spiders on it."

Contributed / Amanda Olson

Olson had just moved to Gilbert the year before, but said she'd gone a "little overboard" with her Halloween decorations last year, which she thought inspired the gnome creator.

"It made me feel like a part of this little town for the first time," Olson said. "I never thought I would get gnomed. I watched people post about it for months and thought it was the coolest thing ever."

Olson and Horne found their gnomes already in place, but another resident, Kim Dobbs, caught the gnome creator in the act of placing her gnome this August.

"I was outside with (daughter) Annalisa when I had to just grab something from the porch. I saw someone pull up by my vehicle," Dobbs said. "She came around and said 'Excuse me miss, you've just been gnomed,' and handed me this furry blue gnome that looks a lot like Cookie Monster. I thanked her and went to show Anna, who was all smiles when she saw our new friend. He's been on my porch ever since."

Dobbs said she vaguely knew the gnome creator because "Gilbert's a small town" but she hadn't talked to her or met her before she received her gnome. But when she posted about it on the Facebook group, she didn't reveal the gnome lady's identity.

"I didn't want to spoil the surprise," Dobbs said.

The gnome creator was finally revealed to be longtime Gilbert resident Kim Dertinger on Friday, Aug. 23.

Contributed / Kim Dertinger

"I was kind of embarrassed," Dertinger said. "Everywhere I go now, someone says 'It's the gnome lady!' because they saw the post or something. But it's also kind of fun."

Dertinger started by painting small gnomes on canvases and bits of wood, but found that it was too hard on her hands to continually paint. So she started experimenting with creating 3-D gnomes out of tomato cages, baskets, vases and whenever she could find to make different sizes.

Contributed / Kim Dertinger

"And once I start doing something, I keep doing it if I really like doing it. So I eventually had probably 50 in my front porch," Dertinger said.

She tried taking the gnomes to a local craft show and rummage sale, but only sold one the whole day.

"So I decided to just start putting them in people's yards, on their porches," Dertinger said. "I never expected it to take off like this."

Dertinger started with a few people she knew, like Horne, who runs a food truck in Gilbert which Dertinger visits. Then she started driving around and tried to match the house with the gnome, like Olson and Dobbs.

"It's been surprising how many people have said that it matches their personality or house so well, which makes me feel good," Dertinger said. "And these gnomes, they can keep them, they can send them someplace else, I don't care. It's just a fun thing."

Dertinger said she also gave some gnomes to a few local nursing homes where the residents have started passing them on from room to room. She's made and placed around 100 gnomes over the past few months.

"It's been great fun," Dertinger said. "It was exciting to have people not know where it came from, but it's also exciting to finally have it out there."

Dertinger said she'll keep making and placing gnomes while she has the materials. She needs more tomato cages to create the larger fabric gnomes. She is also willing to take commissions for specifically themed gnomes, but for a price of approximately $20 to cover materials.

The community members of Gilbert have more gnomes to look forward to.

"It's such an awesome and unique way to cheer people up," Olson said. "I don't think there's a possible way to come home and be pissed off that you've been gnomed. It's too cute."

Adelie Bergstrom / Duluth Media Group