Dinosaurs now the ivy of the neighborhood

Originally published Saturday, February 19, 2000

By RACHEL LARRIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

"For sale to a good home: 66-foot-long used dinosaur. Weighs five tons. Requires constant water, electricity and 7000 ivy plants. Price: $1."

Jon Hegeman certainly knows about good deals on discarded junk. Not only does he run Fremont's Sunday Outdoor Market, he also helped bring Fremont's most famous discarded politician, Lenin, to live in the neighborhood. The sculpture now stands at 3526 Fremont Avenue N.

Hegeman is part of a group of neighborhood residents, artists and small business owners, collectively known as "The Artists' Republic of Fremont," who are restoring the former Pacific Science Center's topiary Apatosauruses in their new home on the corner of 34th Street and Phinney in Fremont.

(While still green, the dinosaurs enjoyed a moment in the sun as a float in the 1998 summer solstice parade.)

When the price of $1 was certainly reasonable, the big mama and her smaller baby couldn't walk to Fremont. So GLY Construction, Ballard Transfer and many other volunteers moved the topiary dinosaurs from the Pacific Science Center to Fremont. [Note: the original version of this story misstated who was responsible for moving the topiary.]

Theresa Weidemann, the self-described "organized one" of the group of dinosaur wranglers, explained that the moss-and-ivy covered pair didn't come alone. "Squirrels had taken over. They built nests in the moss and there were peanut shells in there."

But the duo needed extensive reconstruction and site preparation before the move. They had to be stripped and rewelded. Plumbing and electrical wiring had to be added. Every moment of time, material and expertise, even the land the dinosaurs now sit on, was donated.

Getting big projects done isn't unusual for this neighborhood, explained Hegeman. "There's a bunch of crazy people in Fremont. When we asked people to get involved to clean up, 30 showed up," he said.

"Even Suzie Burke, who donated the land, was there pulling off dead ivy with her granddaughter," added Weidemann.

"There's always been a pioneering energy in Fremont," said Hegeman. "The community is going to change and evolve, but when the spirit of playfulness moves on the neighborhood will be over."

Currently the denuded dinosaurs still need donation of time and expertise, not to mention plant material. "It's kind of like preparing for a space launch," commented Hegeman.

"Except, unlike NASA, we all have other jobs," Weidemann laughed.

Rachel Larris can be contacted at neighbors@seattle-pi.com.