A huge creation, cobbled together out of the parts of others, Frankenbird rises tall as it is given new life….
Not a creature out of Frankenstein, but a whimsical bird statue, created by artist and entrepreneur Bud Dietrich, standing near the entrance to the Stock Creek Development Center. Dietrich, the founder of Nisus Corp., maker of ecologically minded pest control products, built the colorful metal statue in 2006 out of a building crane, an old silo, hubcaps and other recycled bits and pieces.
Despite being nicknamed “Frankenbird” by the geocaching community, this friendly featherless fellow is no danger to anyone—as long as you don’t try to climb on it. (Nisus put a fence around the bird years ago to keep would-be Frankenbirders safe.)
You may know it as the “Rockford Rooster” or, as its creator called it, simply, “The Big Bird.”
Like Frankenstein’s infamous Monster, the bird statue has undergone several transformations, including a move to a more visible location, and the addition of solar-powered lighting to keep it visible at night. The road accessing Nisus Corp. has even been named “Frank Bird Road” after the landmark.
In 2006, Dietrich told a reporter from the Knoxville News-Sentinel that, while some people find the bird amusing, many others find it “tacky.”
What’s your view of Frankenbird? Love it or hate it?
(And if you’re a geocacher, you can find this guy at N 35° 51.926 W 083° 56.678.)
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