RANTOUL — Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch opened 30 years ago in Rantoul, starting with just two reindeer to help Julie and Mark Hardy sell Christmas trees. Today, 20 reindeer live at Hardy’s, which recently represented Illinois on Good Morning America’s “America the Beautiful: 50 States in 50 Weeks.” Morning Edition host Kimberly Schofield spoke with Julie Hardy about the monumental celebration and representing Illinois.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
KIMBERLY SCHOFIELD: How did that even come about? What was it like to be nationally recognized like that?
JULIE HARDY: It was certainly an honor beyond belief. But it was only about a week or two prior that I’d received an email from GMA, and I thought, ‘what’s this?’ And didn’t even think it was a real thing. And once I was spent time on the phone with producers in New York and, you know, the more I talk about my reindeer, the more excited I get and so it was actually easy to get them excited about reindeer. I said, “You’ve got to come and see them!” The crew that worked here with Good Morning America was just delightful to work with and they were giggling and getting excited seeing the reindeer themselves. So it was a fun crew and just an amazing, amazing event in our life.
SCHOFIELD: Yeah, it is absolutely amazing. Do you have a favorite part of having a reindeer ranch or a favorite time of year?
HARDY: The favorite part of it — and this happens not only at Christmas time, but all the time — we bring a lot of senior tour busses in and some people think reindeer are fictional.
SCHOFIELD: Really?! I never would have thought of that!
HARDY: Yeah, they think they’re like Santa Claus, they think they’ve got reindeer in my backyard, and I get the opportunity to educate them about the animals more. So it’s just not the education, it’s the magic that the reindeer do and I will never, ever quit being delighted at that, you know. So especially someone who might be a little bit on the grinchy side, you know, ‘I don’t want to kiss a reindeer,’ and then they’re raising their hand, begging for more cookies, because they enjoy it so much. And again, I think it’s the magic that the reindeer do. People don’t expect them to be so delightful and wonderful.
SCHOFIELD: Have any of your reindeer been featured in any movies or films? Any famous reindeer that you have?
HARDY: Jingle Bells was in a movie. We had a movie crew up in Chicago. The movie didn’t do as well as I’d like, but yes, she did get star in a movie. The Illinois Lottery came out and filmed a commercial here with our reindeer. A lot of Associated Press stories, media. So, yeah, it’s been a lot of media over the years, but Good Morning America was just one of the most delightful things I’ve gotten to do.
SCHOFIELD: How do you think that Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch has impacted the community surrounding Rantoul? In the middle of Illinois … reindeer.
HARDY: Maybe sometimes I take my job and what I do for granted. I just, you know, get up every day and look at what I have to do for the day, and do my reindeer chores, and handle the crowds that come out here. But it is more so just the story that my customers will tell me about the generations that they’ve been here, how much people will share, how much we’ve meant to them. And it blesses my heart, but we’re so happy we can provide a phenomenal service in central Illinois and Rantoul especially. We have a great community that’s behind us.
SCHOFIELD: Julie, 30th anniversary. Is there anything special other than Good Morning America that is being done to celebrate 30 years. Did you ever think you would get to this anniversary?
HARDY: It seems like I don’t know where all the time went for sure, and you know, just a monumental achievement for us. And for right now, we just want to celebrate the 2025 season and look forward to seeing more visitors next year.