New attraction debuts at Kennedy Park
May 7, 2021
Children walking in the woods around John F. Kennedy Memorial Park may come face-to-face with The Lorax or The Bar-ba-loot.
That’s nothing to be concerned about, however. Both critters are completely harmless. In fact, they are not even alive. The creatures from a Dr. Seuss tale have been recreated as a wooden sculptures as a part of the newest addition to the Children’s Forest at the park north of Fort Dodge.
All of the character sculptures were created by chainsaw artist Gary Keenan.
They were set up to create a kind of literary trail where kids can walk around, see the renditions of various storybook characters and even read a bit about them. The trail also has 16 panels of nature-related stories. The panels wll be swapped out with other panels that tell different stories.
-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
JOY Mobile volunteer Lisa Reisner helps 4-year-old Teddy Shelton pick out a book to take home, while his grandma, Deb Shelton, and mom, Natalie Shelton, look through other books. -Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Liam Schuur, 5, touches the nose of a bar-ba-loot sculpture in the Childrenâs Forest of John F. Kennedy Memorial Park on Tuesday evening. Webster County Conservation recently installed a StoryWalk for families and children to walk around and read stories at 16 stations around the Childrenâs Forest. -Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Webster County Sheriffâs Deputy Cody Harris and his 2-year-old daughter, Jade, check out the Humming Fish sculpture from Dr. Seussâ âThe Loraxâ at the Childrenâs Forest at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park on Tuesday evening.
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The sculptures are currently located at the entrance to the campgrounds, near the park’s check-in shelter, but eventually they’ll be displayed throughout the campgrounds and park.
Keenan, who lives about an hour away from Kellogg state park, carved each of the animals. Using his chainsaw, he created freestanding wooden sculptures of an eagle, a blue heron, a jumping bass and an owl, the latter accompanied by a squirrel and three raccoons peeking out of a hollow. Each of the four statues was carved with white or bur oak and took two days on average to fully sculpt. He used power tools and sanding devices for the finer details, as well as to better bring out the grain of the wood.
-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Kelly Blair, a Harcourt city councilman, is behind many of the recent improvements to the Harcourt city park, including adding this antique wagon filled with flowers and greenery. -Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Kelly Blair RECRUITED a chain saw artist to make this sculpture out of a tree trunk.
-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Kelly Blair, a Harcourt city councilman, is behind many of the recent improvements to the Harcourt city park, including adding this antique wagon filled with flowers and greenery.
Editor’s note: This feature first ran in a special publication called Hometown Pride, published June 30, 2020, featuring people and organizations from Fort Dodge and the surrounding area who are making a difference in their communities.