\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCape Coral’s beloved statue, Big John, was supposed to be back on his feet by Christmas. But instead, he\u2019s still in pieces across town … undergoing a massive surgery that\u2019s taking longer than expected.Right now, Big John\u2019s torso sits on a trailer. His legs are parked nearby. But there is progress being made. His back, which was blown out during Hurricane Ian, has finally been sealed up. The repairs are happening at Brand One Ink, a shop off Southeast 10th Street, where crews have been quietly working on a full rebuild.Originally, the job was supposed to be a relatively straightforward repaint and touch-up. But once the crew dug in, they found much more to fix.”All this rust dictated that we weren\u2019t going to be able to rebuild him and put him back up the way that he is,” said Clinton Strand, who\u2019s leading the restoration. “We had to dig in and grind all that stuff out.”What they found underneath was poorly done patchwork and a hidden bit of history.”On his original transport down from the shop he was manufactured in, he actually hit a bridge in Atlanta, and it took his head off,” said Strand. “So they had done a repair, reattaching his head … as we uncover all this stuff, we’re getting rid of the bad and putting all new in.”They\u2019re reinforcing his body with thicker fiberglass, reworking the steel, and giving him an automotive-style finish designed to hold up against Florida\u2019s harsh conditions. Strand says Big John will be stronger than ever. But just not quite on schedule.The new timeline? Late January.Meanwhile, over at the plaza that bears his name, Big John\u2019s pedestal still sits empty.”They\u2019re building up this Big John Plaza \u2026 but without Big John,” said Katie Misowitz, a Cape Coral resident. “His presence is just missing.”Frank Kelly, who owns Barunch in the plaza, says the statue is more than just decoration; it’s part of the plaza\u2019s identity.”He was rusted out. He was ready to go down. So I\u2019m glad they took him,” Kelly said. “As long as they do it right and do it good \u2026 we\u2019ll throw a party when he\u2019s back.”And that return is coming \u2014 just a little later than everyone hoped.When Big John finally returns to his spot on Southeast 47th Terrace, Cape Coral won\u2019t just be getting its statue back; they\u2019ll be getting back a piece of the city\u2019s soul, which has towered over the Cape since the late 1960s.DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cape Coral’s beloved statue, Big John, was supposed to be back on his feet by Christmas. But instead, he\u2019s still in pieces across town … undergoing a massive surgery that\u2019s taking longer than expected.<\/p>\n
Right now, Big John\u2019s torso sits on a trailer. His legs are parked nearby. <\/p>\n
But there is progress being made. His back, which was blown out during Hurricane Ian, has finally been sealed up. The repairs are happening at Brand One Ink, a shop off Southeast 10th Street, where crews have been quietly working on a full rebuild.<\/p>\n
Originally, the job was supposed to be a relatively straightforward repaint and touch-up. But once the crew dug in, they found much more to fix.<\/p>\n
“All this rust dictated that we weren\u2019t going to be able to rebuild him and put him back up the way that he is,” said Clinton Strand, who\u2019s leading the restoration. “We had to dig in and grind all that stuff out.”<\/p>\n
What they found underneath was poorly done patchwork and a hidden bit of history.<\/p>\n
“On his original transport down from the shop he was manufactured in, he actually hit a bridge in Atlanta, and it took his head off,” said Strand. “So they had done a repair, reattaching his head … as we uncover all this stuff, we’re getting rid of the bad and putting all new in.”<\/p>\n
They\u2019re reinforcing his body with thicker fiberglass, reworking the steel, and giving him an automotive-style finish designed to hold up against Florida\u2019s harsh conditions. Strand says Big John will be stronger than ever. But just not quite on schedule.<\/p>\n
The new timeline? Late January.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, over at the plaza that bears his name, Big John\u2019s pedestal still sits empty.<\/p>\n
“They\u2019re building up this Big John Plaza \u2026 but without Big John,” said Katie Misowitz, a Cape Coral resident. “His presence is just missing.”<\/p>\n
Frank Kelly, who owns Barunch in the plaza, says the statue is more than just decoration; it’s part of the plaza\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n
“He was rusted out. He was ready to go down. So I\u2019m glad they took him,” Kelly said. “As long as they do it right and do it good \u2026 we\u2019ll throw a party when he\u2019s back.”<\/p>\n
And that return is coming \u2014 just a little later than everyone hoped.<\/p>\n
When Big John finally returns to his spot on Southeast 47th Terrace, Cape Coral won\u2019t just be getting its statue back; they\u2019ll be getting back a piece of the city\u2019s soul, which has towered over the Cape since the late 1960s.<\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Coral’s beloved statue, Big John, was supposed to be back on his feet by Christmas. But instead,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[47709,47708,209,211,210,1191,47710,3582,104,1179,30310,213,15882,13517,11278,8530,221],"class_list":["post-87624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-beloved-statue","tag-big-john","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-christmas","tag-clinton-strand","tag-crew","tag-entertainment","tag-gulf-coast-news-app","tag-head","tag-late-news","tag-piece","tag-plaza","tag-repair","tag-shop","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}