This past Monday our American friends celebrated “President’s Day”. So, I went through my archive of photos and thought this would be a good time to post my “Presidential Statues” shots as Gumbo’s Pic of the Day.
Last summer my family and I were on a road trip through Canada, returning via the United States. Anyone who has done a road trip with their family (specifically spouse and children) knows this can be a challenging endeavor. So, before our road trip I made a deal with my family…each day I get to pick an outing which they can’t complain about, and in turn they get to pick an outing which I can’t complain about.
So, one hot summer day in the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota, I chose a sight seeing excursion. Afterwards, my family reminded me it was their turn to choose what we were going to do next…shopping. A deal is a deal, so off to the nearest shopping mall we went, that being Columbia Mall.
I must admit that Columbia Mall is a very nice shopping center, but shopping isn’t really my bag (no pun intended), so my wife and children went and did their thing, I did mine. I walked from one end of the mall to the other, grateful for having the opportunity to cool off in the air conditioned comfort, but it was such a nice day that I thought I would go outside and walk back to the doors I entered the mall at. So, as I stepped out I noticed some figures alongside the mall.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the figures I saw were actually four presidential statues. Beside each statue was a plaque with the corresponding president’s name, a short biography, and some famous quotations. From left to right we have:
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
and Ronald Reagan
I admired each individual statue and enjoyed reading each corresponding plaque. When I was done, I couldn’t help but wonder why these presidential statues were there? Upon returning home to Canada, curiosity got the best of me, so I emailed the general manager of the Columbia Mall inquiring about the statues, who in turn forwarded my email to Mr. Jason Heintz, Store Leader of Scheels, Grand Forks. Mr. Heintz informed me that the statues were created for their Scheels store. They are made of bronze and came from Lundeen Sculpture in Loveland, CO. They were placed outside Columbia Mall by the Scheels store entrance in 2014.
For those of you who may not be familiar (which included myself), Scheels is an American privately held, employee-owned and -operated sporting goods and entertainment chain store headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. Scheels operates twenty-six store locations in twelve U.S. states. Its slogan is Gear. Passion. Sports. So, why the presidential statues? Mr. Heintz went on to say that Steve Scheel, Chairman of the Board of Scheels, along with the other founders of Scheels, love American history and felt strongly about honoring their past presidents, so they decided to display various presidential figures in or by their stores.
Kudos to Scheels for thinking outside the box. I admire their patriotism and ingenuity. They made my ordinary trip to the mall extraordinary. I would also like to thank Mr. Jason Heintz for answering my questions regarding these presidential statues. I look forward to returning to the United States and visiting another Scheels store to discover what presidential history they have to offer, and I think I’ll treat myself to some shopping as well.
Clink on this link to view a news story on Scheels and their Presidential Statues.
