Vermontasaurus is a 25-foot-tall (7.6 m), 122-foot-long (37 m) folk art representation of a dinosaur at the Post Mills Airport in the town of Thetford, Vermont.
Overview
editThe Vermontasaurus is the creation of Brian Boland, a retired teacher and experimental balloon pilot, who with a crew of volunteers used scrap lumber obtained from a collapsed portion of Boland's private museum and hot-air balloon manufacturing facility to build the sculpture, starting in June 2010. Boland adopted the name, "Vermontasaurus," from the comment of an onlooker.[1]
According to the Valley News, the sculpture is part of an eclectic collection of old cars, improvised vehicles connected with hot-air ballooning, and other curiosities that Boland has assembled at the Post Mills Airport.[2]
Controversy
editAs of July 2010 the State of Vermont and the town of Thetford had weighed in on whether Vermontasaurus was a work of art or a structure that requires a permit.[3] The state Division of Fire Safety prohibited people from being allowed underneath the sculpture, pending the approval of a structural engineer to attest that it was safe to do so. Subsequently, Vermont District Environmental Commission No. 3 granted a permit for the wooden dinosaur, ruling that it had no negative environmental impact under Vermont's Act 250.[4] Despite an initial assertion that the structure would require a building permit, the town of Thetford waived the requirement, ruling that the structure is a work of art.[5][6] The sculpture received confirmation as a permitted use from Thetford's Development Review Board in an August 2010 meeting attended by more than 50 people. The decision was controversial because such a large sculpture was not a use envisioned in the town's ordinances.[7]
Collapse and reconstruction
edit
In October 2011, three months after the State of Vermont ruled that the sculpture could remain in place, the structure's midsection sagged to the ground.[2] In June 2012, Boland organized approximately 50 volunteers from as far away as Maine to transform the collapsed portion of the sculpture into a revised representation of a dinosaur. In addition, volunteers built a "baby Vermontasaurus", alongside.[8]
References
edit- ^ Curran, John (11 July 2010). "Vt. scrap-wood dinosaur posing modern-day problem". Associated Press. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ a b Langois, Krista (22 November 2011). "Vermontasaurus Suffers Bad Break". Valley News. White River Junction, Vermont. pp. A1.
- ^ Black, Riley. "What Will Become of Vermontasaurus?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ Associated Press. "Vermont man gets OK to keep 122-foot wooden dinosaur". Burlington Freepress. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
- ^ Sands, Paul A. (23 July 2010). "Vermontasaurus". WPTZ Television. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ Kent, Rachel (20 July 2010). "Vermontasaurus Sparks Controversy in Thetford, VT". Fox 44 News. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ Ryan, Katie Beth (11 August 2010). "Board Divided on Dinosaur Permit". Valley News. White River Junction, Vermont. pp. A1, A3.
- ^ Caruso, Aimee; Hauck, Jennifer (10 June 2012). "Rebuilding the Vermontasaurus". Valley News. White River Junction, Vermont. pp. E1, E4.