Cripple Creek, Victor getting their own troll
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - The popularity of the large wooden troll sculpture in Breckenridge has led organizers in this county's gold-mining area to seek one of their own.
A new nonprofit group has reached an agreement with the artist of the Breckenridge sculpture to build a similar artwork at an unspecified location in the mountains above Highway 67, in the three-mile stretch between Cripple Creek and Victor.
Construction is scheduled to start on July 27 and take a week or so to complete; more than 100 volunteers are assisting on the project.
People can access the sculpture -- which hasn't been named yet -- from two trailheads in or near Victor.
The project will cost approximately $160,000 and a fourth of that amount has already been donated.
Based on an Instagram post by the artist, Thomas Dambo, this installation is part of a project called "Way of the Bird King."
He plans on building ten trolls and thousands of birdhouses along a cross-country road trip across the United States.
Kim Lottig, a member of the Gold Camp District Impact Group, said that the troll idea developed in January.
"It'll have a remarkably positive impact on the flow of our local economy and the health of our local businesses," she said. "We believe lots of people will travel here to see this troll from all over the world. The types of people who pursue these trolls are pursuing adventure and whimsy and community."
Lottig said that the group contacted Dambo, learned about his intent to build more trolls this year and became part of his Bird King project.
The Teller County project will cost approximately $160,000.
"But we've raised $40,000 already and Dambo gave us until the end of the year to collect the rest," Lottig said.
Another group member, Shawnee Frizzell, said that the troll will become a popular tourist attraction and source of community pride -- as the troll in Breckenridge has.
"People can come here and learn about nature and history," she said. "They can bring their children here. They can learn these things."
The Teller County troll hasn't been named yet, but Dambo -- while working on a similar project Thursday in Michigan -- said that it will be the first of its kind.
"It's not standing up," he explained. "It's going to be more like crawling. It's going to be a little bit like if a sculpture is lying down. This is my first crawling one in this way. I'm using myself as a model, lying on my side and trying to imagine how I would fish if I was a huge troll who had a big beard made of maple branches."
Dambo is a former rap musician from Denmark and said that he has built nearly 120 trolls, in 17 countries and 40 in a dozen states; his goal is to build one troll in every state.
In his sculptures, he takes pride in using recycled materials -- local leaders have already accumulated a pile of wooden pallets for building material -- and constructs the trolls so that they blend into their surrounding environments.
Local organizers declined to reveal the troll's specific location, in order to avoid crowds who may become a distraction if they try to watch the construction in progress.
The troll will be built on land owned by Newmont, an international precious metals company based in Denver, that owns the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine.
To celebrate the completion of the sculpture, organizers will host a festival -- called the Fastelaven -- on August 4 and 5 in downtown Victor and the festival is expected to become an annual event.
