Shark replica outside store stirring debate in beach town
April 5, 2021 GMT
GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) One store in this Gulf Coast beach town has a giant, purple octopus draped across its roof, and the main entrance at another resembles the toothy mouth of a giant shark that customers can walk through.
But plans to install a realistic, 27-foot-long shark replica outside another store in an area that’s being spruced up for redevelopment are stirring debate, with some wondering whether such a display just steps away from the surf would be too scary.
A proposal to hang a giant shark model outside an Alvin’s Island store near Beach Boulevard in Gulf Shores, a prime tourist town on the Alabama coast, is drawing questions among members of the panel that would have to OK the plan, Al.com reported.