Unveiling of ‘Characters’ set for Thursday

WICKENBURG - So who are the “New Characters In Town” hiding under wraps in the downtown Wickenburg area the past couple weeks?

The public will finally get the chance to see them starting Thursday afternoon (Nov. 20) when the Town of Wickenburg accepts the donation of the eight major sculpture pieces and 16 smaller pieces from the DeVore Foundation.
The purpose of the gift from Wickenburg residents Dick and Ginny DeVore and their foundation was to help make downtown Wickenburg a popular tourist attraction - especially when the downtown highway bypass is completed at the end of 2009.

They selected well-known artist J. Seward Johnson Jr. to produce the artworks, which are life-like full-scale painted bronze sculptures of characters that would enhance the historical environment of the downtown area.

The eight major pieces will be unveiled after a 4 p.m. ceremony Thursday in the Desert Caballeros Museum’s Charles T. Klein Pavilion at the downtown traffic light. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and tour of various sculptures afterward.

The eight large sculptures have been installed at six different locations:

“Miner and Donkey” are in front of Danny’s Jewelry on Tegner Street; “Cowboy and Dance Girl” are in front of the Bar 7 Restaurant and Lounge; “Felon” is located in the Jail Tree Park next to the downtown Circle K; “Hotel Owner” is waving at the corner of Frontier and Apache Streets; “Teacher with Luggage” is standing adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce office on Frontier Street; and “Vaquero” is strumming his guitar and singing in front of the Gold Nugget Restaurant.

And then there are the 16 “linkage” pieces - rattlesnakes, gila monsters, roadrunners, tarantulas, and a commemorative plaque (at the museum park) scattered along the sidewalks of downtown.

Each major piece also will have a recorded message (produced by Arizona Historian Marshall Trimble) that will provide historical information about each “Character” and how they relate to the Town of Wickenburg.