The Bronze Statues of Cresco

As I keep gearing up for events in August which will be taking me to places that are definitely not northeast Iowa, I can’t help but feel there are going to be some problems in coming up with new topics for the blog. I’ll be honest, there are a few tourist attractions that I’ve seen and been curious about, but I don’t really want to talk about tourist attractions—they’re meant to draw people to them. I’d like this blog to focus on the things you might not expect to see in northeast Iowa. That being said, some of these tourist attractions are most definitely not in danger of being commercialized. So I may stop by and see them.

In the meantime, there are plenty of unexplored nooks and crannies to keep writing about, although sometimes you have to look hard for them. Sometimes they’re right under your nose, like the locomotive at Beadle Park, or the bronze statues that are around town.

I missed the connection myself when I first saw the statues. The first one I ran into was the statue of a boy carrying a golf bag outside my apartment, on the edge of the sidewalk. It has that wholesome Norman Rockwell feeling, as though it’s the most natural thing for a boy to be walking down main street with a bag of golf clubs even though the nearest golf course is about five miles away. You probably know the feeling—the halcyon days of what your childhood should have been like. Or a Peanuts comic strip without the jibes.

 That wholesome feeling isn’t lessened by the other bronze statues you see around town. In front of the Cresco Library there’s a girl in a rocking lawn chair, her feet not touching the ground, leaning back lazily and reading a book. In front of the Cresco Fitness Center there’s a bronze statue of three boys playing basketball, all of whom seem to be having fun. Occasionally you will see someone stand at that statue and scream, “knock those other boys down and make the shot, dammit!” but most of the time people let the statue be.

I’ve done some research on these statues, and they are all over Cresco. Literally all over. There are 31 bronze statues around Cresco, all of whom show children enjoying themselves or doing adult things, like golf or be a firefighter.

Actually, that’s one of the interesting things about the statues. From what I can find out, these statues were part of a volunteer effort, and as such some statues are outside town buildings while others are outside private businesses. Between the two groups, the town building statues make the most sense. The girl reading in the rocking chair really connects to the library. The boy and girl sitting on a bench in front of the Cresco high school somewhat less so, but you can see the connection. The same goes for the boys playing basketball outside the Fitness Center, the boy dressed up like a fireman in front of the fire station and the children fishing outside the local nature center. Also, the boy soldier placed by the Howard County Courthouse. That last one is perhaps more somber than it should be, since we’re in the middle of two conflicts now and the boy solider is not too far away from the other monument in front of the courthouse, made of black marble, that lists the names of all the soliders from Howard County who have died in combat. Whenever I walk by I think, “Kid, please for the love of God be careful,” and then I think of all the soldiers in combat who are at risk all the time, and I wish they could all have nice, safe desk jobs where their only danger would be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

As opposed to the town buildings, the statues by private businesses are, as a rule, not as much connected to what the businesses do. I suppose that’s fair—it’s better that the boy outside my apartment in front of the drug store have a golf bag rather than be carrying some prescription medication. Still, I wonder how the businesses selected the statues, if they had any hand in them? The clothing store Leuthold’s has a girl playing a flute. I know for a fact there are no flutes in Leuthold’s, and I don’t think they’d look kindly if someone went in to the store, got out a saxophone and started playing. By the same token, a boy reading while his dog watches on is not exactly representative of a company that makes housewares. I appreciate the sentiment, but I would love to know what the businesses were thinking. Did someone have a fondness for music? Was someone a devoted golf fanatic? It makes you wonder.

The best part about these statues is that the project was done, as the Cresco Library website states, “to make Cresco an even more unique community.” Granted, it follows this up with “This idea has now been embraced by all cities (ha) in Howard County,” but still, the original intent shines through. The website also says, “The emphasis is to raise community and visitor awareness to a form of art not readily available outside museums and galleries,” which is a great reason for putting up statues. More towns should have statuary around where people can look at it up close! Granted, statues are kind of graffiti magnets so I can understand why more towns don’t do this, but I like the fact that a town that is still very much a farming community decided to spruce up the town with bronze statues. It says that this town is not only community minded, but has a spark of poetry that other towns all too often lack.