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Giant chair becomes newest park feature
It's something even the Jolly Green Giant could appreciate.
Standing nearly as high as a single-story building, the supersized chair in Richard Aguirre Park has become a landmark of sorts. It's also had a few people scratching their heads on how it got there.
Rick Ballard from the city parks and recreation department is taking it all in stride. After all, he's the one that built it.
"It's a new addition to make the park even better," he said.
Ballard drew inspiration for the new community fixture during his vacation to New York. During his trip, he and his father visited Letchworth State Park, which has a similar supersized log chair.
"I jumped in it, and my dad said it was one big chair," Ballard said.
He figured Mountain Home needed one just like it. With photos of the display in New York in hand, he introduced the idea to parks and recreation director Stan Franks, who gave the green light for the project.
"I did it for me because it reminds me of my dad," Ballard said. He enjoys knowing that his creation will bring joy to others in Mountain Home.
Finding the needed construction materials was actually easier than Ballard expected. He received the log poles from Tag and Robin Hawks, who own the Little Camas Resort, located about 25 miles north of Mountain Home. "He'd come up to eat with us and told us about the project," Robin Hawks said. Ballard saw the log poles near the cafe and asked if the couple would be willing to donate a few of them.
"My husband said, 'no problem. Take what you need,' " she added.
Construction on the chair began in early October, which proved a lot more challenging than expected, Ballard said. In addition to working without actual plans, the one he created was also 25 percent larger than the one he saw in New York.
"It was all hard," he admitted.
There was nothing small with this project. The poles used for the front legs stand five feet on their own with the logs used to create the chair back twice that size.
By itself, the seat weighs close to 1,500 pounds. Ballard figures it'll easily hold 15 children at the same time.
After two weeks of work, the chair was ready to go on display. He even took time to add a few details that some people may not notice at first. Among them where "wear marks" on the armrests where a giant's hands would have gripped it.
The next challenge involved moving the supersized piece of furniture to the city park. It took a forklift just to load it into a flatbed truck with the city cemetery staff bringing in one of their backhoes to lift it off the truck and set it on place.
It went on display in late October. For added safety, the parks and recreation staff added a foot of "soft fall" material beneath it.
Responding to people's questions, Ballard clarified the purpose of his creation."It's there for people to take pictures, and it's there for people to enjoy," he said.