Corn statues to go on display in Vinton

Fiberglass ears of corn soon will be popping up all over Vinton.

Members of the Vinton Guild of Fine Arts painted the statues based on a variety of themes, and secured sponsorships for them.

Brian Parr and Rick Poldberg made the original model out of plaster and wood. Parr said they took it to a company called FastCorp in Sparta, Wis.

'They made a mold and produced 20 fiberglass pieces off our original,” Parr said.

The statues will go on display Saturday during the guild's art show at Celebration Park in Vinton. Afterward, they will be auctioned, but will stay within the community. The money raised will be used to fund more community art projects in the future.

Parr said he first started thinking about putting statues around Vinton last summer.

'It's always been in the back of my head that it would be kind of neat,” Parr said, adding that the recent Herky on Parade in Johnson County helped spark the idea as well.

Parr said he settled on corn statues, because 'the whole foundation of our history is corn-related, from canning factories (to) popcorn seed corn.”

Parr also said he would like Vinton to eventually be home to the world's largest ear of corn. Olivia, Minn., lays claim to the record, with a 25-foot statue of a corncob atop a 25-foot gazebo.

Parr said he thought the corn statues would be a nice way for Vinton to 'step up to that” goal.

One of the statues already is on display at Rabe Hardware. It is painted red, white and blue in a patriotic theme, and says 'freedom isn't free.” Parr said that statue eventually might go to the Veterans Memorial Park in Vinton.

Parr said that once the art guild members finished painting the statues, Tom Hansen from Hansen's Restoration was clear-coating them.

'Everything has to stay in the community,” Parr said.