The City Brewery's King Gambrinus statue has been decked out in richer, more vibrant colors, just in time for Oktoberfest.
La Crosse artist Matt Duckett is expected to complete restoration work he began, with help from local artist Erich Boldt, in early July. The king's tunic once again is royal purple; the sun's rays had faded it to light blue over the years.
The statue of the patron saint of brewing is on the west side of South Third Street, in front of the brewery.
According to a 1939 La Crosse Tribune story, it was put in front of G. Heileman Brewery in April of that year after being purchased from a defunct brewery for $100.
Duckett said Monday the project took longer than he expected because of the amount of repair work he had to do. The statue apparently was built mostly with lead, tin and aluminum and had been repaired over the years with copper, fiberglass, steel, wood, flooring compound and automotive body filler, he said. Duckett used fiberglass and automotive body filler for his repairs.
Tom Zieja, owner of Z's Lawn & Landscaping Inc. at 400 Division St., also will donate landscaping work near the statue, such as trees, flowers, shrubs and new sod. It's to thank the brewery for donating 100 plastic drums that the Washburn Neighborhood Association has been converting to rainwater barrels, he said.
The association adds hardware to the 55-gallon barrels and sells them to people who connect them to their roof gutter to collect rain.
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