I'm going to take you back to 1957 the birth place of the Pete World’s Largest Pelican. It seams like it was talked about several years before the birth of the pelican took place. Truman Strand was put in charged to get things rolling.
We are going to be hearing Bob Resset, thought out this video talk about his father, Ted Resset was the one who built Pelican Pete. Links down below. The steel frame was wrapped in wire hand-plastered by Alvin Anderson, a local tradesman. Later it was painted white with orange bill and feet. They did considered covering the frame with then new fiberglass, but decided that plaster would give it a more realistic appearance.
The total bill for the new pelican was $1,200, in 2019 money that would cost $10,917.74. The 15 1/2 foot steel, and plaster symbol of Pelican Rapids, didn't have a name until Pelican Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce had a naming contest several years later. Pete became the official name of the Pelican.
The Chamber of Commerce sold thousands of 5-cent postcards of the big pelican for many years, using the profits for maintenance of the WORLD'S LARGEST PELICAN structure. The City of Pelican Rapids has ownership of the pelican and the Mill Pond Dam.
On the pelican's 25th birthday, the community threw a party for the pelican on a sunny hot summer day in 1982. They celebrated with music, ice cream and a huge birthday cake with the words "the world's largest!" over 700 was estimated to be in attendance.
Pelican Pete's 50th birthday, a group of local businesses created a flock of pelican sculptures, they called them the “friends of Pelican Pete”. These four foot birds were decorated by local and regional artists. Over three dozen Pelicans commissioned by business owners to sit outside there shops. In the winter most of them are inside their owner's business.
Thank-you for all your comments and viewing the video. I have other videos I would like you to view.
Map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=18IyJwLu-3PoR48vxQ78zhUXd7jU&usp=sharing
Donation:
cloakcoin:CBs9HooP6g2u1y4pFJdWdaiaeBV1b7x8Xe
Other Links:
https://pelicanrapidspress.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_Pete
https://www.youtube.com/Johnthemousevideo
https://twitter.com/JohntheMouse
Music:
"Life of Riley" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400054
Youtube Video Transcript:
Tags:
The Mother of All Pelicans, The Pelican Rapids Pelican, sculpture, Pelican Pete, Pelican Rapids, MN, Minnesota, Mill Pond Dam, World’s Largest Pelican,