After a few delays, the World’s Largest Watermelon was installed at Millenium Plaza in Muscatine on Wednesday, Sept. 20.
The watermelon is lifted by a crane to its final viewing spot.
The watermelon was created by local artist Johan Umana and was delivered to the park by Canadian Pacific Railway. The art piece was installed using a crane by Bonb’s Crane Service & Equipment Rental. Silver Hawk Fabrication (formerly Hoffman, Inc.) worked on the 40-foot-long, 16-foot-tall (26-feet when tilted),16,000-pound sculpture.
“This is great,” Umana said. “To see the final product right now is exciting. To see all the teamwork working really hard on this, from building the structure and now myself painting it – it’s pretty exciting. I’m really proud of the whole thing.”
Umana has painted a couple of murals in town. This will be his first piece of work on display along a riverfront.
“One of the things I like about public art is all people have access to it,” he said. Now it’s a part of the community. To know I was a part of that is a great feeling.”
Al Church is a lifelong Muscatine resident who watched the installation with other onlookers that morning.
“It’s going to be nice,” Church said. “It’s a big creature.”
The Muscatine area is known for raising watermelons.
“It’s a part of Muscatine,” Church said. “Watermelons.”
Victoria True was also at the riverfront to watch the installation of the World’s Largest Watermelon. She has followed on Facebook the progress of the art piece. She said she was super happy to finally have it in place.
“Muscatine needs something to put on the map,” she said.
Don Lampe also watched the installation happen from the start to the end.
“It’s been in the works for quite some time,” Lampe said. “It was originally the idea to be here for RAGBRAI but due to delays they weren’t able to get it in place.”
Lampe said it was cool to have a local manufacturer and artist involved. There were also a lot of donations and volunteers who worked on getting the art piece to happen.
“It’s just a great way to bring the community together,” Lampe added.
Mayor Brad Bark said the foundation for the sculpture was a collaborative effort with Premier Yard Restoration, Hahn Ready Mix, Heuer Construction, Inc., Hoffmann Inc Fabrication, and the City of Muscatine.“I would also like to thank Kent Feeds (Kent Corp), Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, Muscatine Power and Water, Ryan Streck, Jason Schillig, Musco Lighting, SSAB, Jack Michaels, Parks and Rec Advisory Commission, City Council, Public Art Commission and HNI Corporation,” Mayor Bark said.
