The final walking man statue was placed at Lebanon Central Christian Church, 311 E. Main St., on Thursday.
The statue was the last to find a home of the four walking men brought to the community by the Boone County Community Foundation in August 2016.
BCCF Program Director Barb Schroeder said the foundation bought the sculptures from Anderson artist Levi Rinker to create a new link connecting Boone County communities through the public art pieces.
Schroeder said the statues bought with funds from the BCCF arts endowment show a commitment to promoting recreation and the arts.
“We felt strongly that these statues would support the arts in the community and tie each community together,” Schroeder said. “Most of the statues are near the trails, so it also partners with the trails.”
Schroeder said the statutes, 30 of which were originally created for an Anderson public art project, were brought to the organization’s attention when the first Boone County Walking Man was placed in Thorntown’s Lions Park. That statue was a donation to the park from long-time donor David Cook.
Inspired by the Thorntown Walking Man statue, Schroeder said BCCF quickly snapped up four of the 10-feet, hollow steel, 250-pound sculptures and gifted them to the city of Lebanon and towns of Zionsville, Whitestown and Jamestown.
Each community was tasked with finding a home for the Walking Men and with deciding how to decorate them.
Today all statues have been placed, but the Jamestown and Zionsville men remain undecorated. Each statue in the county has been placed at a site that makes its community unique, with many of them along a section of trail or in a park.
The two Lebanon statues were given to the Heart of Lebanon and the city to be placed at priority locations. The first Lebanon statue was situated at the Sam Ralston Road Trailhead on the Big 4 Trail to promote the trails, while the final statue was put at Central Christian Church to promote the gardens there.
HOL board member Tiffany Perdue said the Lebanon statues were decorated with a grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. The trailhead Walking Man wears a Lebanon sports jersey in recognition of the many sports legends who call Lebanon home. The garden Walking Man is decorated with colorful garden vegetables.
In Whitestown, the statue is decorated in celebration of the town’s past and future and is placed along the Big 4 trail in the legacy core.
The Jamestown statue was placed in Pleasant Acres Nature Park, while the Zionsville statue is at the new town hall.
Once the remaining statues are decorated, BCCF will promote the statues and encourage the public to visit each one. The campaign would encourage both residents and tourists to visit the notable Boone County places and share photos using #booneimpact.
Each statue will also get a plaque noting that statue was provided by BCCF and designating the campaign’s official hashtag.