Herky on Parade bases holding up North Liberty benches

NORTH LIBERTY - The leftover Herky on Parade statue bases have found new homes in the North Liberty parks.

The city's parks department used the concrete platforms to mount their new park benches, and plan to install more benches in the near future.

'You can actually see where the Herky used to stand on the concrete,” said Guy Goldsmith, the parks director for North Liberty. 'The sun bleached around where the Herky was mounted and you can still see the footprints in the concrete.”

Goldsmith said the parks department was in the process of planning the new park bench project when the Herky statues were being taken down.

Many of the Herkys were auctioned off Sept. 12 at a fundraiser for the United Way of Johnson and Washington counties, and North Liberty purchased the remaining bases for the bench project.

'It dawned on me that those (bases) worked awesome, so I said we'd love to take them if there are any left,” said Goldsmith.

The parks department worked with the University of Iowa and the cities of Coralville and Iowa City to pick up the leftover bases and bring them back to North Liberty. They used a backhoe to dig out 10-inch-deep holes to place the base instead of pouring fresh concrete, which Goldsmith says saved more than $2,000 in materials and labor costs.

Some of the benches were purchased by North Liberty residents to serve as memorial benches, and because of publicity on Facebook, Goldsmith said more residents have asked to purchase benches.

'I wasn't expecting the response from all this,” Goldsmith said.

The memorial benches feature a remembrance plaque placed on the bench, and each bench was laser etched with the name of the park where it was installed.

There are 12 benches in place at x Centennial, Creekside, Deerfield and Quail Ridge parks. Three more benches will be added to Centennial Park once the new concrete path is poured early next year.