I am on record saying, “So help me, if Hibbing punks Duluth on this, I am going to freak out.”
The sculptor Thomas Page is offering this life-size statue to Hibbing for $60,000 and says “it could be bolted down in front of City Hall in two hours.” Page indicated he would be willing to make six statues for worldwide placement, saying, “One of the other sculptures could be placed in Duluth … If Hibbing wanted one, we could factor in that Duluth would not have one for three years. But I also understand if you invest money, you don’t want someone down the road to also have one.”
OK so he’s playing Hibbing and Duluth against each other here. Duluth City Council: make this happen and buy the statue out from under Hibbing’s nose. As Page says, “As far as cultural tourism, I think you would make your money back in twelve months.” Or, we could build our own statue 10 times bigger, and make it back in three months.