Babe to Undergo Surgery!!

BEMIDJI — Even Babe the Blue Ox needs a little TLC once in a while.

The statue of Paul Bunyan's companion will be undergoing internal surgery to repair its ribs and spine.

Workers plan to build a support structure around the ox, and then they'll elevate it so they can install a new foundation and work on the inside.

Babe's feet are currently on four different foundations, which caused the front and back legs to slip in different directions. Now, the feet will be put on a single slab.

The repairs are estimated to take about three weeks.

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The Catsup Bottle Sommerfest is coming July 9th!!
Here's more info received from Mike Gassmann, "The Big Tomato":
More fun than a barrel of pickles

There will be a big "57" on the birthday cake, but it won't be saying "57 Varieties"... it'll be celebrating 57 years of roadside America!

It's the 8th annual WORLD'S LARGEST CATSUP BOTTLE SUMMERFEST BIRTHDAY PARTY on Sunday, July 9, 2006 on Main Street in downtown Collinsville, Illinois. The landmark catsup bottle water tower turns 57 years old.

OFFICIAL UPDATE: Wienermobile will host the Oscar Mayer "Sing The Jingle, Be A Star" contest! The crew from the Wienermobile will be video taping kids of all ages (that means grown-ups, too) singing the classic "Oscar Mayer Wiener" song and the "B-O-L-O-G-N-A" song. The video performances will be posted on SingTheJingle.com, where America will vote for the winner. You could be picked for a 2007 Oscar Mayer TV commercial!

CONFIRMED APPEARANCES: St. Louis Rams Cheerleaders, Ronald McDonald, and World's Largest Things Traveling Museum.

ALSO FEATURING: Trailnet's Big Bottle Bicycle Ride, Tangy Catsup Taste Test, free Birthday Cake, and the Little Princess Tomato & Sir Catsup Contest.

Good times will include the hula hoop competition, musical chairs, water balloon toss, and our own special version of Spin the Bottle. This totally kitschy, family-oriented and kid-friendly street festival comes complete with classic car show, food, crafts, and live music.

The fest runs from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

For more details and a complete schedule of events log on to www.CATSUPBOTTLE.com.

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Eagle-eye Kim spotted this in the Startribune. A new BIG thing in the Twin Cities :

Stillwater's new park: Like a great, big bear hug for kids

Darlene Prois, Star Tribune

Tom Armstrong won't say exactly how much he and his wife, Sherry, have spent on Stillwater's enchanting new Teddy Bear Park, but it's millions.

"It was pretty expensive," admits Armstrong. "But if the kids like it, it's a good investment."

Odds are excellent that the Armstrongs' donation to the city's children will pay off. Big time.

The park is filled with workers now, scurrying to put on the finishing touches before next week's opening. But it's not unusual to see kids peering through the Victorian-style fencing surrounding the park, hoping to get a peek at the treasures inside.

Wedged into a cozy 1-acre space overlooking river bluffs and church spires, the park has a smiling 22-ton granite momma bear and her cub to greet guests. They're surrounded by a playground of Stillwater-themed delights.

The theme includes a climb-aboard train, a gigantic climbing tree, a colorful paddleboat and even a replica of a historic lift-bridge.

The park is the Armstrongs' gift to their beloved city. There is only one stipulation:

"They have to keep it as a park and in good condition," said Armstrong, who officially handed the park over to the city on Tuesday. Built into the project are revenue-creating features that will help the city maintain the park, including a restored 120-year-old barn that offers rentable meeting spaces with catering kitchens.

Said Stillwater Mayor Jay Kimball: "It is absolutely the most exciting and adorable park you've ever been in. If you have small children, the ooh-ahhs that come out of their mouth will rival the ooh-ahhs at Disney World."

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From my old haunts in North Saint Paul, Minnesota:

Giant snowman to drift away from Hwy. 36

With construction looming on Hwy. 36 through North St. Paul, the big question is:

With construction looming on Hwy. 36 through North St. Paul, the big question is:
What will happen to the giant snowman?

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is planning to rebuild the highway next year in North St. Paul and Maplewood, and the snowman is right in the middle of the construction zone, at Margaret Street near the highway, where a bridge will be built.

When the work begins, the smiling steel-and-stucco figure with black top hat and buttons -- all 44 feet of him -- must be moved.

But if you ask Mayor Bill Sandberg where, he says: "We don't know. Want to be on the committee?"

Although there was controversy when the snowman was built in 1974 -- some considered it a dorky-looking eyesore -- it has become a symbol of North St. Paul and is pictured on its street signs.

"About 95 percent of the people really like it," Sandberg said. "But every once in a while you'll find a curmudgeon who doesn't."

An old cannon in a city park directly across the highway aims right at the snowman. "People laugh about that," Sandberg said.

The snowman was moved once before, in the late 1980s, from a parking lot near the main drag to its present perch.

"We had to saw the head off, so it would fit on two flatbed trucks," Sandberg said. "People lined the streets to watch the move, but little kids had tears: 'Where's his head?' We told them, 'Don't worry, it's on the next truck.' "

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An adjustment to Paul Bunyan in Bemidji according to the Star Tribune

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Bemidji plans Bunyan-size Olympic fete

How big was it for Bemidji, Minn., that five fellows from northern Minnesota won an Olympic medal in curling?
It was Bunyanesque.

In a celebration March 12, the city will honor the hometown curlers by adding a 2.5-foot replica of their bronze medal to the Paul Bunyan statue by Lake Bemidji.

"Paul was a curler," Mayor Richard Lehmann said.

And Babe the Blue Ox?

"Babe was a sweep -- a natural, with that tail."

Paul's statue already has a curling cap "like the ones our guys wore," said Teresa Vincent, a city employee. There's a 25-foot broom, too, and someone is turning an old propane tank into a curling stone.

Elaine Hoffman, a Bemidji State administrator, said the medal replica is being produced in industrial technology departments at Bemidji colleges. It will be of lighter materials "but will look like bronze, an exact copy except jumbo," and it will hang on Paul for three weeks before going to the Bemidji Curling Club.

The Olympians -- Pete Fenson, Scott Baird and Joe Polo of Bemidji and John Shuster and Shawn Rojeski from the Chisholm area -- were to return Monday night. The party in two weeks "will be a pretty substantial celebration," Lehmann said. "For us, this is like winning the World Series."

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The BG/BS site is slated to play a small role in the documentary film, "Twine". We were contacted by the people producing this film after the one of the main volunteers at the Twin Ball museum in Darwin, Minnesota mentioned us during his interview. Apparently the big girls made quite the impression! "Twine" should be released sometime in early to mid 2006. We'll let you know if we made the final cut or not.

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Soap Lake has its giant lava lamp ... now it has to put it together

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES

A 50-foot-tall lamp that one day is expected to be a tourist attraction arrived in Central Washington's Soap Lake this week -- in pieces on four flatbed trailers.

Assembling them will be "much more complicated" than Brent Blake, the project's coordinator, thought it would be.

"It's just unbelievable -- endless pieces of structural steel and fiberglass. We need a genius engineer to put this all together again," said Blake, whose art gallery has this view of town -- and a normal-sized lamp.

The oversize version, billed as the world's largest functional lava lamp, was used as an advertising gimmick in Times Square by Target Corp. The company gave it to Soap Lake, which hoped to use it to attract tourists.

The town is known for its mineral water.

For more information, click here: http://www.giantlavalamp.com/

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