A statue of Lucille Ball, created by Jamestown-based artist Dave Poulin, has been on display in Lucille Ball Memorial Park in Celoron, NY since 2009.
CELORON – You may have heard the news by now, but in case you missed it, local concern over a statue of Lucille Ball in Lucy’s hometown of Celoron has garnered national attention.
A group of residents are voicing their dissatisfaction with the statue that was created by noted local sculptor and artist Dave Poulin. For the past two-and-a-half years, a Facebook page called “We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue” has existed in an effort to raise awareness about the statue in hopes that it will be updated or replaced.
This week, the awareness effort finally went viral, first with TV stations in Buffalo reporting the story, then other news outlets including the Jamestown Post-Journal. Now, Yahoo News is carrying the story and it has elicited more than 3,000 comments – all in agreement that the statue needs to be fixed.
Critics of the statue say the face looks nothing like Lucille Ball and, to make matters worse, they say it an actually be rather frightening. Considering Lucy was one of the most beloved and beautiful comediennes in the show biz history, they feel its only appropriate that a more fitting statue be erected in her hometown of Celoron.
Celoron Mayor Scott Schrecengost told the Post-Journal that it would cost a lot of money — between $8,000 and $10,000 — to have the original artist recast the statue, which was unveiled in 2009.
Schrecengost told the newspaper that he has no interest in using taxpayer dollars to fix it. Instead, a fund has been set up to raise the money.
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