A 30 Mile Long Attraction In North Dakota With Seven Sculptures Created By Gary Greff
At 110 feet tall, 150 feet wide and weighing in at 78.8 tons, “Geese in Flight” is the world's largest scrap metal sculpture. Against the flat farmlands in the distance, the large metal geese appearing to fly across over five miles of weld and 300 feet of pipes - shaped like the sun's rays - is a striking sight.
Outstanding on its own, “Geese in Flight” is one of seven sculptures spanning over the 30 mile long Enchanted Highway, located in North Dakota. The Enchanted Highway begins at Exit 72 on I-94 near Gladstone and ends in the small, farming town of Regent, where the artist, builder and designer Gary Greff grew up.
“I came home and saw that my hometown was dying and nobody was going to do anything about it,” explains Greff. “The school was closing… farms disappearing…a small town [was] dying. I thought there should be something bigger and better [for it].”
Walking through town, Greff saw a small tin man sculpture and something inside of him clicked: “I thought, nobody is going to stop for a normal sized tin man, but they'll stop for the largest. I never had an art class. I just said, 'Go for it!'”
Despite his high school principal telling him he wouldn't ever make it to college, Greff attended Dickinson State College where he pondered about going into business, but ended up choosing education with the hopes of possibly working with kids. But after he graduated, Greff was unsure what he wanted to do next.
The oldest of eight children, Greff was at first reluctant to leave Regent. When his father told him it was time to leave, he took an eighth grade teaching position in a town 50 miles from home, where he fell in love with teaching seventh grade. He worked as a teacher and eventually principal – after earning his masters in administration - for over 15 years all over North Dakota and Montana.
When Greff heard that Regent was in trouble (“Smaller farms [just] can't compete”) he returned home, determined to help out the dying town. With the schools closing and the farms disappearing, Greff knew that Regent needed revenue and support.
Greff said his experience as a teacher and principal taught him that he was good at communicating, which was a skill he felt he would need if he were to set out to save the town. Despite having little experience with art of any type, Greff felt the sculptures were a good fit for the town and knew he would have the communication skills to back it up once it started to capture America's attention.
In 1989 he started his first sculpture, the world's largest tin family. The tin family is about 40 feet tall and made out of old oil well tanks. There's a sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt in a horse-drawn carriage and giant pheasants. “Fisherman's Dream” features trout sculptures over 60 feet tall. There's a 45 foot tall grasshopper. Leaping deer. Each sculpture has its own parking area and kiosk.
It takes Greff around five years on average per sculpture. He can’t pick a favorite. “Each sculpture is like raising a child,” he notes. “They each have their own identity…and each have things that make them unique.”
Never an artist before the Enchanted Highway project, Greff said his work gets better and better each time.
The goal is to have 11 sculptures along the Enchanted Highway, one every three miles.Taking inspiration from folk art and local craft shops, Greff hopes to make all of the sculptures a different style. He wants to do a giant spiderweb made of cable and a sculpture of Native Americans spearing a buffalo.
Not everyone though is pleased with Greff's creations.
“Outside of town there's been a huge response. But in town they're not happy,” explains Greff. “Regent residents don't support me a lot. It's a small farming community and they want it that way for the next 100 years. Change is hard for people. It is hard for them to realize they have to do something other than farming to keep Regent alive.”
While the farming community has stated as a whole that the Enchanted Highway has not helped matters, Greff insists that it has brought revenue to the town. Before the Enchanted Highway, a counter showed that around 2,000 vehicles traveled on the highway every day. Now, it's around 8,000, showing a distinct uptick in visitors into the area.
“Everyone who comes down the highway is amazed at what is there. I had one gentleman who said, 'If I would have died before I saw your project, I would have died a poor man.' That makes it worth it,” says Greff. “I can get all the negativity in town that people give me and no support and whatever, but if someone is enjoying it than it's worth doing. We have a lot of people that only come here to see the sculptures. It's great. It shows that it's a project [of worth] that I hope the state will continue with. People do appreciate it and come here just to see it.”
After 28 years, Greff stated that he is struggling to keep the Enchanted Highway alive. A one-man production, the project has become bigger than what Greff can solely handle. Up until now, Greff has funded the project himself but time and money is limited as more and more sculptures are created. The future, at this time, is unclear.
“A lot of areas claim one sculpture here or there,” continues Greff. “No one in the nation can claim a whole highway with 11 sculptures on it. [these sculptures] fit the area. Anybody into farming, ranching, working with their hands, welding…it gives them inspiration. As an artist, I basically feel that if you put your mind to something, you don't have to be great at everything or have a degree. If you want to make it happen, you can make it happen. I feel I'm living proof that in America if you put your mind to it you can do what you want to do if you believe in yourself.”
Local critics and lack of funding aside, The Enchanted Highway is a magical display of folk art unlike any other in the Midwest. Inspired by the rural farm landscape that surrounds it, the Enchanted Highway showcases traditional art while looking into the future with hopeful eyes.
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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