Popular wooden statues showing weather wear

**FALL**: A wooden statue at Sanctuary Woods Park, 4750 66th St., is showing signs of wear on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.

**SPRING**: One of the statues at Sanctuary Woods Park, 4750 66th St., on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

The small wooden statues that popped up with the flower buds this spring in Sanctuary Woods Park, 4750 66^th St., are showing their age as autumn leaves settle around them. The weather and maybe human hands have not been kind to some of the nine “natural gnomes” that stand about 18 inches tall.

One statue along the creek appears to be missing. Another, splattered with mud, leans against a tree. The downhill skier has lost its head.

Throughout the summer, some of the statues have been moved.

The township doesn’t know who created the wooden statues. If you know who the artist is, please contact Public Information Coordinator Jim Hayden at (616) 335-3050 or jimh@laketowntwp.org. We’d love to find out more about the statues, share their stories with the entire community and find out what we can do to make sure they make it through the winter.

Sanctuary Woods is open dawn until dusk. The park is 40 acres with a lower loop and an upper loop. The trails are connected by 170 wooden steps. There is a view of Lake Macatawa and Lake Michigan from the upper loop. A historic Interurban railway bridge is in the center of the park.