What they decided on was to make An Event based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They got one of the local artists who does bronze work to create ten statues, each depicting a scene from the book. The ten statues would be put in various locations along the sides of the road between the City of Bridgeplace and the other City of Bridgeplace, five on each side. Then they would hand out to the kids brochures with maps and clues, making it into a sort of scavenger hunt.
I may not be technically a kid anymore, but I decided to go over there myself one day and to see what was to be seen. And now you can see what I saw when I went to see what I could see and saw what I saw!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1) The Start!
Clue: "Now our hunt has just begun, find caterpillar number 1. At the farmer's market is where you'll look. See him perched upon a book."
"He started to look for some food."
"On Monday he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry."
The first statue was lurking beside the farmer's market.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
2) The Second Statue
Clue: "You'll find him eating an apple this day, near the Carter's Family Way. A big ol' bank's the place to go, in a corner way down low."
I simply couldn't find this one. It was supposed to be near a bank, but I never saw it. And I didn't want to go poking around too much around a bank, in case the police happened to start taking an interest in my activities. I'm afraid that this statue might have been stolen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
3) The Third Statue
Clue: "Walk past 7th if you dare, to find the fella on a pear. Another corner on a brick. . .looking for it is the trick."
This little guy was sitting on a pear, outside of an accountant's office.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
4) The Fourth Statue
Clue: "As you ponder all these clues, stop to ask 'Do I need new shoes?' Kinney's would be the place to buy, on the plum you'll find the guy!"
The clue for the fourth one indicated that he would be outside of a shoe store. Unfortunately, the shoe store has gone out of business since the statue was placed and the brochures given out, so it is now a little statue of a caterpillar perched upon a plum outside of a vacant storefront. But he was pretty obvious to spot, so it probably didn't matter much.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
5) The Fifth Statue
Clue: "To find caterpillar number 5, go where you'd see performances live! On a sweet strawberry near the ground, he's very close. . .just look around!"
The fifth little guy was lurking in the shadows of the recessed front entrance to one of the local theatres. He had a strawberry to munch on.
After the fifth statue, the hunt left the City of Bridgeplace, crossed the street (which is also the state line), and entered a different state and the other City of Bridgeplace.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
6) The Sixth Statue
Clue: "Now cross the road to the next state, but please be safe while on your way. When you get there make a right, at the corner, the caterpillar's in sight!"
This one was perched atop an orange, outside of a coffee shop. Beside him you can see a little caterpillar made out of a sort of paste stuff. When the statues were first put out, people kept stealing them. The towns kept replacing them, but even so there would be times when there was no caterpillar in place. That made it difficult for the kids trying to complete the hunt. And so the towns decided to make some little extra caterpillars and place them beside the regular ones. Unlike the bronze ones, the extras were made to be nearly impossible to remove in one piece and also very ugly. That way, nobody would be likely to want to steal one. Apparently, the idea worked.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
7) The Seventh Statue
Clue: "Back the way you need to go, can you guess what makes him slow? Behind a column on a cupcake, feeling full with a big stomach ache!"
Caterpillar number seven sits atop a cupcake, hiding behind a pillar on the facade of a girly clothing store.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
8) The Eighth Statue
Clue: "Number 8, now we're almost done! Aren't you having so much fun? If you wanted money, where would you go? On a step, you'll find a fat caterpillar moving slow."
Number eight, lounging upon a leaf next to a bank's ATM, is looking a bit rotund.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
9) The Ninth Statue
Clue: "Number 9 you must find soon, for our small friend is now a cocoon! Toward the corner of Piedmont and State, on the guardrail is where he will wait."
It seems that this little fellow has decided to take a nice nap, all wrapped up in silk.
The ninth one was a bit tricky to find. From the clue, I knew it was on a guard rail at a certain corner of an intersection. The problem was that the guard rail was on the edge of a parking lot, up against a building, set up to keep the cars from smashing into the brick wall. So there were a bunch of great big oversized SUVs all lined up against the rail, and I had to work my way around them to find the statue.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
10) The More-Than-Ninth Statue
Clue: "Alas, our time has flown right by and now we have a butterfly! Where's the final spot you need to look? Same place you'd go to read a book!"
The very last statue on the hunt is, appropriately enough, at the local public library. Now it's no longer a caterpillar hunt, though. And this guy was also very tricky to find, because he was lurking up in some shadows on the side of one of the many columns, about twenty feet up.
2 comments:
That is awesome! Shame that people feel the need to nick the statues, though.
Nice Acci. That looks like it was a fun little side adventure for an otherwise slow day. I wish more towns did that sort of thing. (After welding the statues in place, of course.) ;-)
Post a Comment