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Herkys land across community in dark of night
2024 Herky on Parade III began Wednesday, with 10 a.m. unveiling
May. 1, 2024 5:05 pm, Updated: May. 2, 2024 7:51 am
IOWA CITY — Rain clouds gathered outside Coralville’s Xtream Arena Tuesday evening, threatening to complicate the covert operation inside, where community members and leaders wearing eye black and bandannas convened in assigned deployment teams.
Using military-style code words like Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot for team names — each group was assigned one yellow bin of drills and screws, along with a list of locations and instructions, aimed at executing the group’s larger mission: to distribute and install 100 6-foot-tall Herky statues across nearly as many locations in a 10-mile radius under the cover of night.
After browsing the crop of decorated entries for the third Herky on Parade in 20 years — organized for distribution in rows featuring Construction Herky, Super Hero Herky, Scarecrow Herky, and Iron Herky — volunteers got straight to work, for the most part.
Some first took Homer Herky up on his offer of a pink-frosted doughnut — set out in boxes from Hurt’s — before they began wrapping the decorated Herkys in black plastic.
The tactical teams — aided by members of the University of Iowa Hawkeye football team, UI Athletic Director Beth Goetz, and UI Health Care Vice President for Medical Affairs Denise Jamieson — had to be especially delicate with the statues, some of which featured props like a bird feeder, fishing pole, and pizza box.
Wheeling them from the arena floor to waiting U-Hauls went smoothly, especially given the complexities of some Herkys — like “Tooth Fairy Herky,“ with its tutu and stained glass wings, and ”ANF Herky,“ covered with corn and beans and thus heavier than the others.
“The football team has helped us each time we’ve done this,” Think Iowa City President Josh Schamberger told his room of volunteers Tuesday, referencing the first and second Herky parades — with 75 stationed across the community in 2004 and 84 dispersed in 2014.
“We just got a text about it for community service hours,” Hawkeye redshirt sophomore Ty Nissen told The Gazette. “And we also heard that there was a KF statue, so thought it would be a good idea to come down.”
Originally from Carroll, Iowa, Nissen said he didn’t experience the first two Herky on Parade events.
“It’s pretty unreal,” Nissen said.
Once in the U-Haul, the Herky vans flanked out across Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Tiffin, and Solon. On location, crews hopped out of their respective trucks and carried the designated Herkys to their resting places for the next four months — with plans to bring them down in August.
“Where are the football players when you need them?” one member of the Alpha team joked as she helped lug “Herky Laureate” onto its platform outside the Kirkwood Regional Center in Coralville.
Passersby, presumably leaving class for the night, eyed with curiosity the covert operation — watching team members drill into paved platforms the cartoonishly-large shoes of a plastic-encased mystery statue.
“This is so fun,” Charlie Damschen said just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, standing next to one of the dozens of Herky unveilings — this one in University Heights, across from the restaurant Stella.
The Herky that Damschen was waiting to see belonged to his son — Archie Damschen, who at 13 is the youngest artist ever to design and decorate a Herky for the parade.
“It’s fun to see that people are so supportive of him,” Charlie said of the crowd nearing 50 that gathered to watch Archie cut off the plastic.
With neighborhood kids — who, like Archie, are home-schooled — playing tag and “duck duck goose” to pass the minutes before 10 a.m., members of Johnson County Conservation praised the national park Herky for which they’re an official co-sponsor.
“It’s beautiful, right?” conservation program manager Brad Freidhof said of the statue depicting 27 national parks. “Especially to get youth involved with that. That's a big thing, to have youth connected to parks, to the outdoors. And national parks are a phenomenal example of that.”
A Herky statue that honors the national parks around the country sits on display in a warehouse at the Iowa River Landing in Coralville on April 10. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
A lunch lady Herky statue sits on display in a warehouse at the Iowa River Landing in Coralville on April 10. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
Volunteer Laura Stapleton of Iowa City sports Herky on Parade eye blacks at Xtream Arena in Coralville on on Tuesday. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
University of Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz talks with volunteers as Herky statues are loaded into trucks to be distributed at Xtream Arena in Coralville on on Tuesday. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
Connor Gast of Coralville takes a photo of one of the decorated Herky statues while volunteering to help distribute the statues to various areas around Iowa City at Xtream Arena in Coralville on on Tuesday. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
Doug Bolt of Coralville, left, and Brad Freidhof of Coralville, right, work together to transport a Herky statue in front of Scheels at the Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville on Tuesday. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)
Herky of Parade statues stand in formation at Xtream Arena in Coralville on Monday. The 100 statues of the University of Iowa mascot are the third installment of the public art project, expanding on the 2004 and 2014 editions.The event will celebrate Herky’s 75th birthday. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Herky of Parade statues stand in formation like the Terracotta Army of the Qin dynasty in China on the floor of Xtream Arena in Coralville on Monday. The 100 statues of the University of Iowa mascot are the third installment of the public art project, expanding on the 2004 and 2014 editions.The event will celebrate Herky’s 75th birthday. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Think Iowa City president Josh Schamberger is interviewed as he stands near some of the Herky on Parade statues on the floor of Xtream Arena in Coralville on Monday. The 100 statues of the University of Iowa mascot are the third installment of the public art project, expanding on the 2004 and 2014 editions.The event will celebrate Herky’s 75th birthday. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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