![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1011.MillyA-630x315.jpg\" "\\"Milly")
<\/p>\nCreation of a Mill Pond legend: Milly the Mill Pond Monster to be installed Monday morning<\/p>\n
Published 8:00 am Saturday, October 11, 2025<\/p>\n
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Milly the Mill Pond Monster.
\nPhoto courtesy of Julie Clinefelter<\/p>\n
People around these parts tell stories of a swamp monster that swims the water ways around Austin. A curious creature that followed the rivers and streams from the north and the scents of SPAM.<\/p>\n
These folks call her Milly and she\u2019s made her home here in Austin\u2019s Mill Pond. Or rather on the shores of Mill Pond where she will be an ambassador for the Austin Public Library.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about it,\u201d said Austin Public Library Executive Director Julie Clinefelter. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping she will be a local attraction, but also for us as a way to plan programming around her and get people interested in what we\u2019re doing at the library.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what exactly is Milly the Mill Pond Monster?<\/p>\n
Between 12 and 16 feet in length, Milly is a metal sculpture created by the welding class at Austin High School and taught by Ryan Stanley. Early on Monday morning, the sculpture will be mounted about 12 feet off of a cement pad on the south shore of Mill Pond and behind the library itself.<\/p>\n
Milly will be arrayed with a book on her tail as a representation of her status at the library.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mission is really connecting people to build community, literacy, equity and we think she will be able to help us do that,\u201d Clinefelter said.<\/p>\n
The idea for Milly traces back to June of 2024 following the flood event towards the end of the month. A piece of drift wood was cast ashore behind the library and it caught the attention of library staff.<\/p>\n
It had a look like something akin to the Loch Ness Monster and several other sculptures Clinefelter had found through online searches.<\/p>\n
Clinefelter said that it became the centerpiece among staff who gave the idea a name.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomebody actually said it could be Milly the Mill Pond Monster and that actually stuck,\u201d she said. \u201cIt kept coming up in conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWouldn\u2019t that be fun to have something like that out there,\u201d Clinefelter added.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Stanley was brought on board with ideas of what Milly could look like. From there the project grew, including a consideration as to where Milly might be placed.<\/p>\n
Initially, the idea was to possibly place Milly in the waters of Mill Pond, but Clinefelter said that after talking to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, they found out that putting a sculpture like this in water wouldn\u2019t be allowed.<\/p>\n
The hope also was that Milly would be installed in time for Welcoming Week, which was in September, but the project wasn\u2019t going to be ready in time and so Milly is now going up Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Even though Milly will be introduced to the public for the first time this month, she was in spirit a driving force for the library\u2019s monster theme throughout the summer. Projects during that time were centered around the idea of monsters and now staff see Milly as possibly being that centerpiece that focuses further programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is just kind of having her be our mascot to use in Facebook posts of what\u2019s coming,\u201d Clinefelter said. \u201cIt\u2019s just sparking those creative ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Milly herself, the library has commissioned Will Bjorndal to write a Milly-themed original song that will be revealed next Thursday at the library between 4-6 p.m. as part of Milly\u2019s celebration.\u00a0 In fact, Clinefelter said that she envisions musical performances at the pad supporting Milly.<\/p>\n
Whatever helps to draw in patrons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of want her to become that focal point of all the things Austin is. How all of those things play into the library,\u201d Clinefelter said. \u201cWe\u2019re all about that community building and building those bridges. We liked the idea of having that belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Creation of a Mill Pond legend: Milly the Mill Pond Monster to be installed Monday morning Published 8:00…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-218178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}