When I'm feeling blue, I try to think of happy things. Sometimes I think about my tubby cat running, or a funny childhood memory, or I mentally add to my Pinterest boards.
And sometimes... I think about weird stuff.
No, no, not the tabloid-y stuff. I'm talking classic weird, kooky stuff, the endearing bizarre, like what I saw the first time I got lost on Old Cornelia Highway.
The Rabbittown Rabbit, which I affectionally call "The Big Bunny" is one of those things I can, and try to, share with everybody. I have brought friends visiting from out of state here so they can take the story back with them and I've even driven to it in the middle of the night, because I was too restless to sleep.
Yes, stucco bunny solace is an odd but welcome type of comfort.
Mr. Rabbit is 20 feet tall and perched proudly on the edge of the parking lot of the Rabbittown Cafe. Get a biscuit and then fiill up your gas tank, get your nails done or your hair cut in the rabbit's precense. I have been told the statue was specially created by Denny Walley, a musician working in props, who was asked to do so by a friend living in the area. I reached out the Walley a while back and wasn't able to connect. But the year is young....
Around the stacked stone-style base are four plaquard spaces, with commerative details from the installation. The book Weird Georgia - my favorite base resource for these kind of things - has a photo of the big guy dressed for the 1996 Olympics and I have heard rumors he will sometimes dress for the holidays, but I've not seen it. The rabbit, while it looks like cement, is apparently made of foam and fiberglass, coated in stucco.
As for how it got there, or really, why, RoadsideAmerica.com says that Rabbittown folk were displeased with the emphasis on chickens and poultry in Gainesville a.k.a. the Chicken Capital of the World and their Poultry Park monument, so they erected the large, happy rabbit in 1993. He sits upright, on a stone pedastal, waving his paw. His face also shows carved eyes, whiskers, nose and mouth. Although, I have also heard around that the people of Rabbittown were just proud of their heritage as rabbit farmers. So proud of their rabbit farms that Weird Georgia says they raised about $10,000 to create and install Mr. Rabbit.
I think he's worth a stop, so take Jesse Jewell Parkway and the hop on 129. Now, keep your eye out for a Marathon gas station, and you know, a very large rabbbit. Turn left, and then park.
We're going to have fun this year, friends. Weird can be fun. Weird is welcome.
Until next time,
Stay curious.
P.S.: DO. NOT. TRY. TO. CLIMB. THE. BUNNY.
