Bigfoot statue is a big hit at Rutland garden center

A six-foot-tall, Bigfoot statue is making a special appearance at Garden Time in Rutland Town this month. And customers are loving it. The richly detailed, 147-pound life-like outdoor sculpture is composed of a poly-resin material which resembles bronze. This work-of-art is hand made and hand painted; it sports a personality along with enormous feet and hands, and eerily lifelike eyes. Commissioned by Design Toscano, an upscale U.S. designer home and garden decor company, this garden yeti is a real collectible with a limited production run. You can get up close and personal with the legendary beast in the Garden Time greenhouse which is located along U.S. Route 7, just north of the Rutland City line. "We're asking folks to visit us and help us name Bigfoot," said Andy Probst, the retailer's manager. "We ordered the big statue at the 2012 Chicago Industrial Garden Show last August. It was delivered to us in December, but we didn't get around to uncrating it until last week." Probst said Bigfoot is bolted temporarily to the greenhouse floor where it has quickly become the commanding figure among the retailer's human shoppers. Probst admits that the gender of the gentle giant—known in the Northwest as Sasquatch and in the North Country by its Abenaki name, Wejua (wee-jew-ah)—is unknown at this time, but that's where customers will play a part. "We have blank paper forms which customers are welcome to fill out and suggest their name for Bigfoot. We've had some pretty good ones," Probst noted. "But we won't reveal them until next month." Probst said the official name of Bigfoot will be announced June 1. The "uncontest" winner won't receive a single thing for the name, just the satisfaction of having had some fun and getting in the garden spotlight. Of course, the legendary Bigfoot creature is no stranger to the Rutland region. That's why Probst said he wanted to add the beast to the shop's garden accessory selection. The apelike beast, often linked to the extinct giant ape known as Gigantopithecus, has been spotted by in Rutland County since before Samuel de Champlain became the first European to visit the region. Locally, believers claim Bigfoot—Wejua—lives in tangled wood and marsh lands along the Poultney River. Also, nearby Whitehall, N.Y., is the locale for the most famous sighting of the beast in the North Country. The 1976 Whitehall sighting was dramatized recently on an episode of the T.V. show "Animal Planet". To have some fun for a good cause, Bigfoot will be the star of Garden Time's Ladies Night, a wine-tasting event to benefit Hope Lodge of Vermont, Friday, May 17, 4-8 p.m. The event includes a raffle and customers wearing something pink will receive a 10 percent discount on all garden items. In case you really want this Bigfoot statue all for yourself, Probst said he's—or she's?—for sale. For just $2,499.99, Garden Time will wrap up Bigfoot and help you get it out to the car—somehow.

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Bigfoot statue is a big hit at Rutland garden center

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