歪歪漫画

One day Dawn Loeffler came across an interesting story about Thomas Dambo, a Danish artist who builds trolls out of recycled wood. He had built huge wooden structures 鈥� no two alike 鈥� in 18 states and 20 countries across five continents.

It was an interesting story, but Dawn figured there wouldn鈥檛 be any trolls in the Midwest any time soon. Then she learned that one of Dambo鈥檚 projects was in the planning stage for Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Dawn checked out Dambo鈥檚 website and learned that the artist was seeking volunteers.

She and Marty Cobenais have been friends of the arts for many years. When would such an opportunity ever come along again?

鈥淕uess what,鈥� she told Marty. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to build trolls!鈥�

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So Dawn and Marty headed to Detroit Lakes over Memorial Day weekend to join Dambo鈥檚 crew and a small army of volunteers.

鈥淲hen someone says we鈥檙e going to make trolls,鈥� Marty says, 鈥渉ow do you say no to that?鈥�

Volunteers were needed each day to assist Dambo鈥檚 paid international crew of about 25 carpenters. Some volunteers were advanced-level carpenters; others had 鈥渟ome knowledge of power tools.鈥� Unskilled volunteers were given basic instructions and learned on the job or took on simple but necessary tasks like carrying materials, painting or running food and beverages.

The project was coordinated by an initiative to invest in the community and its 412 lakes area by encouraging business, events and public art.

In addition to volunteers from the Detroit Lakes area, many came from other states and countries to build five trolls, three mirror portals and one giant yellow plastic rabbit.

Dambo described the Detroit Lakes project as the biggest and most ambitious exhibition of his career. He had visited the area a year ago to find materials and sites and to work out the details of the project. Troll-building commenced this spring.

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Dawn and Marty met other volunteers from the Twin Cities, Fargo and Colorado. Some worked on the trolls for just a day; some for several days. There was always work enough for more volunteers. KSTP 5 TV reported that some 300 volunteers worked on the project.

Marty and Dawn built trolls for three days 鈥� the first one was rain-soaked. Dawn admits the time 鈥渇elt longer.鈥� After three eight-hour days of physical labor, she says she was exhausted and sore.

Dawn and Marty worked on two of the five trolls: Jacob Everear, a reclining giant that visitors are allowed to climb on; and Long Leif, who became the tallest troll of any of Dambo鈥檚 creations anywhere at 36 feet (twice as tall as our Paul Bunyan statue).

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All of Dambo鈥檚 creations are made with discarded materials as part of his environmental message. Leif鈥檚 鈥渟keleton鈥� consists of recycled telephone poles and two-by-fours. Troll heads, fingernails and toenails were built in Denmark and shipped over; other parts were assembled on-site.

The body鈥檚 鈥渟kin鈥� is made from discarded pallets. Leif鈥檚 upper body was surrounded by scaffolding, and materials were hoisted up with a pulley system to be put in place (one of Marty鈥檚 duties).

Construction of the trolls followed a strict schedule, while drones filmed daily progress from above. YouTube videos were posted regularly. Dawn says volunteers worked while music played, and instead of being rewarded with T-shirts, volunteers were asked to bring their own shirts to have printed with Dambo鈥檚 decal.

Workers brought their own camp cups 鈥� rather than disposable plastic water bottles 鈥� and made their own wooden forks. (Plenty of scraps to work with.)

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Dawn says the professional carpenters who worked on the project had to adjust to the imperfections of troll construction. Compared to building or cabinetry construction, trolls are amorphous and imperfect; trolls are not 鈥渋n square.鈥�

At the start of each one鈥檚 construction, the crew was given a basic sketch. On that first rainy day, Dawn says, that sketch was tossed around in the rain as the structure took shape bit by bit and board by board.

When the project was completed and unveiled in June, all of the debris had been cleared. Dawn says, 鈥淓verything was pristine when they left, and entrances to the troll sites were kept as natural as possible.鈥�

Visitors from across the state and beyond started coming to Detroit Lakes to find the trolls. Dawn and Marty went back to see them and then returned a second time with their grandkids, ages 13, 10, 8, 7 and 2. The kids enjoyed the whimsical trolls and the huge yellow plastic rabbit at the end of the route. Despite the size of the trolls, Dawn says the two-year-old wasn鈥檛 afraid of them.

And few kids can claim their grandparents helped build the tallest troll that Dambo ever built.

For those who may want to go check out the trolls for themselves, you can find information and directions to all of the trolls online at

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I went with two of my nieces and my nephew and it took us three hours to find, hike up to each troll, hike back and drive to all of them, and we kept a pretty brisk pace.

The first troll, Alexa's Elixir, is very accessible, but others require hiking through woods, up and down hills, etc. Two of them are at the ski resort in Detroit Lakes. So wear your walking shoes!

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