If you’ve already read the introduction, feel free to Go Directly to the Weevils or to the Current Weevil.
People who know me or follow me on social media will remember that my son graduated from West Point last year, and is currently stationed at Fort Novosel, the home of Army Aviation, where he’s training to be a helicopter pilot. The fort is in, naturally, the middle-of-nowhere Alabama, but is surrounded by several small towns. One of these is Enterprise, Alabama, a town of around 28,000. People, of course, have stereotypes of almost every place, and I remember how much nonsense I heard about California from people where I grew up in Pennsylvania when I first moved there in 1985. So naturally, we envisioned what Alabama was like based on all the stereotypes we’d heard, but tried to keep an open mind. Now that we’ve visited Porter at Fort Novosel five times, I can safely say it’s much better than we expected, and in particular we’ve come to really like Enterprise. It has a very cute downtown area and a number of good restaurants.
But there’s one aspect to the town that we’ve really embraced, in part because it’s so unique and fun, but also because my daughter Alice has become enamored with insects, and is planning on a career in entomology. The town of Enterprise celebrates the boll weevil, that scourge of the cotton field that decimated an entire industry back in the 1920s. While many communities vilified the cotton pest, Enterprise went a different direction. The upside of wiping out the cotton crop was that it allowed the surrounding farmlands to diversify and plant numerous other crops which sustained the region much more richly than the monoculture cash crop of cotton. Peanuts became a major crop throughout the state, but there were also several others.
To show their appreciation for the good brought about by the change in agriculture, Enterprise erected a Boll Weevil Monument in the middle of town, dedicated on December 11, 1919, celebrating the Boll Weevil. Today, the statue is a prominent part of the town’s seal and flag, and can bee seen everywhere around town.
And here’s the plaque neraby.
And here’s a closeup:
And there are other signs around town, but by and large the most ambitious and satisfying display of affection for the boll weevil by Enterprise is what’s known as Weevil Way. Do you remember the various Cow Parades that started showing up in various major cities like Chicago and New York beginning in the late 1990s? They were large fiberglass cows that different artists would paint.
The trend actually began in Zurich, Switzerland in 1998, and not with cows, but lions — a symbol for the city of Zurich — by artist Walter Knapp. From there, it spread rapidly to other cities beginning with Chicago, which chose cows and then called it “Cows on Parade.” At least eighteen cities, some large and some more modest in size, have held Cow Parades. But it didn’t end there, or more importantly, with cows. Others have done Elephant Parades, Buddy Bears, and Wild in Art, featuring all manner of wild animals. The list of cities having done something like this is long, and sadly, incomplete, but I’ll get to that in a minute. In the United States alone, there are nearly 100 different ones. A city in California near where I live — Santa Rosa — has “Peanuts on Parade,” fiberglass statues of various characters from the Peanuts comics by Charles Schulz (Schulz lived in Santa Rosa for a long time and it’s also where there’s a Charles M. Schulz Museum).
But there’s one glaring omission from the Wikipedia list of fiberglass tribute statues, and that’s Weevil Way in Enterprise, Alabama. Weevil Way is described as a “community art project with a series of 30 boll weevil statues decorated or dressed to represent the local landmarks or businesses where they stand.” You read that right. There are around thirty giant fiberglass boll weevil scattered around town each dressed to represent their sponsor’s business. They are delightfully unhinged in the best possible way.
We initially noticed them on our first trip to Enterprise last summer when Porter first reported to duty there and we drove a truck with some of his furniture to his new home. Honestly, they’re hard to miss. But with each subsequent trip we grew increasingly intrigued by them and on our last trip there in late April, Alice and I resolved to go on a bug hunt, a scavenger hunt to photograph all of the weevils along Weevil Way.
How many are there? That’s a surprisingly tricky question. Around 30 is a safe bet, but if you want to be exact then it gets harder to pin down. The official pdf lists 30, although one, Benny Boll Weevil is mobile and his location changes from day to day. According to the pdf, his current location is supposed to be disclosed on his own Facebook page, but unfortunately, no one appears to minding the store and the last post when we were there was April 14 and it appears to not be updated as often as promised. So that’s already one we couldn’t get. Still, we persevered. At least two have been removed for unknown reasons, possibly “vacationing at the weesort,” and two are temporarily down because they’re out for … “weepairs.” But then we also found some not on that list, so the final tally is anybody’s guess. Presumably, the weevils that were in front of businesses that have closed have been permanently retired, sad to say. I personally think those should be moved to a retirement space in some park around town, but who knows what happens to them? There’s also a pdf trail guide which is helpful, but also appears to not be completely up-to-date. Each weevil is 6-feet tall and custom made by a local company, Replica Plastics. I’m not sure how much they cost, because to find out you have to fill out a contact form.
As far as I can tell, Weevil Way began in 1998 and the first weevil statue was “Dr. Higbee Weevil,” which no longer appears to be around, and I’m not sure of the order in which they appeared. That would be fun to know, but c’est la vie. I do know the popular Ronald McWeevil statue at the local McDonald’s was the 26th weevil when it was unveiled in April of 2022, just three years ago.
Weevil Wednesdays
Beginning today, each Wednesday will be a Weevil Wednesday until I run out of weevils to share from our scavenger hunt in Enterprise, Alabama. Hopefully, before I run out I’ll have had a chance to return and photograph the ones now out for weepairs. Each Wednesday, I’ll reveal a new weevil statue and any information I have about it. Anyway, having no obvious order to follow revealing them, I’ll simply follow the numbered list on the Weevil Way Trail Guide and then add the ones not listed at the end. Enjoy.
The Weevils
Weevil Wednesday #1: Piper Weevil
Piper “The Pilot” Weevil is located at the Enterprise Municipal Airport at 863 Aviation Boulevard.
Piper “The Pilot” Weevil is ready to kick the tires and light the fire of one of his numerous Piper aircraft that are housed at the Enterprise Municipal Airport (KEDN). He has a long running aviation history thanks to his namesake, William Thomas Piper, Sr, who was a National Aviation Hall of Fame Member, American airplane manufacturer, engineer and founding president of the Piper Aircraft Corporation.
As far as I can tell, Piper debuted in July of 2021. The map he’s holding is actually fairly well detailed and shows the area right around the airport.
And here’s the official portrait of Piper Weevil:
