There is no doubt you’ve driven by him, looking to see what crazy outfit he’s sporting this year.
We’re talking about the Centennial Logger, that piece of roundabout art on SW Reed Market Road that honors history and captures the quirkiness of Bend.
But the identity of the person behind the costume changes has been shrouded in mystery. Central Oregon Daily’s Steve Kaufmann decided to play detective and find out who’s been behind it.
“I just was drawn to him and decided that he needed some accoutrements,” said the artist, whose identity we are not revealing.
She does volunteer to us that she moved here in 1967 with her family and is a Bend High School graduate.
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And no, this mother and grandmother doesn’t decorate alone. She has a posse of about eight helpers.
“Just close friends,” she says.
“We were a little paranoid when we first started. When the guys would be the lookout and he would say ‘I think that’s a cop coming! We better all get down in the bushes!'” she laughs.
“I thought he was Herman the Hoedadder because the statue down the street was a tree planter. And so, Herman the Hoedadder just became who he was until we realized, wow, he’s a logger.”
His 2019 Santa suit was swiped by somebody. The City of Bend says it does not remove any of the costumes unless it’s offensive or poses a traffic hazard. So if you’re the one who took it, she’d like it back.
The mystery decorator hopes to continue the tradition — anonymously, of course. She’s kicked around the idea of taking photos the statue’s outfits for a wall calendar.
