The statue of Paul Bunyan on State Hwy. 34 in Akeley will be at the center of this weekend’s 75th annual Paul Bunyan Days celebration. While most people know the legend of the giant logger, the story of how the statue was created by Dean Krotzer and his family is not as well known.
The Krotzer family moved to the Akeley area in 1983 from Saint Bonifacius in southern Minnesota. Dean Krotzer was a self-taught artist who had created large sculptures before.
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When he heard the story about how Akeley was the birthplace of Paul Bunyan and saw Paul’s giant cradle along Hwy. 34, he thought Paul Bunyan should be there too.
“My dad, Dean, was born in 1931, so he would have been 93 on June 30 and his birthday would have been during Paul Bunyan Days this year,” daughter Deana (Krotzer) Tranby said. “He died in 2011. My mom, Beverly Krotzer, is 92 and lives with my sister Sally and near the other Krotzer families south of Akeley.”
She said her dad never had any formal training as a sculptor.
“He built a statue of Christ in Byron, Minn., and lots of other statues,” she said. “He's been a sculptor and artist his whole life. It was amazing. There wasn't anything he couldn't do. Besides building sculptures, he did everything from building houses to making kitchen cabinets, tables, beds, dressers, candle holders and picture frames.”
Dean also designed and built castles for Renaissance Fairs.
“We've got castles in Boston, New York, Chicago, Arizona and Colorado,” Dean’s daughter Sally said. “They are 70 or 80 feet long. There’s also one at the Renaissance Fair in Minnesota.”
Deana was 9 when the statue building took place and 10 when it was finished.
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“Dad saw the cradle uptown and said "If this is the birthplace of Paul Bunyan, then Akeley should have Paul Bunyan here,” she said. “He wanted to make the world's largest Paul Bunyan, but he also wanted to make one that was welcoming to the public. If Paul Bunyan was made standing up, he would be the largest. Because he's kneeling down, he's not the largest, but dad made him that way so people could sit in his hand.”
An idea takes shape
Sally Krotzer was working in the Akeley family business, Wood Arts Studio, when the idea for the Paul Bunyan statue began.
“Dad was talking with Nels Kramer one day about how Akeley was the birthplace of Paul Bunyan,” she said. “Nels Kramer had a little museum there in Akeley and they were talking about how there should be a statue of Paul Bunyan in Akeley too. The town gave dad some money to build the statue, and my dad and my brothers put in a lot of money to finish it.”
She remembers her dad sketching out the design and making a clay model as part of the creative design process.
"First he made a little statue out of clay in his shop,” she said. “After that, he drew a picture of the statue. He designed it himself. I was there when he did it. A couple of months later they started to build the statue. My brothers Steve, Jim, Bruce, Peter and Sam helped dad. They all built it together, along with brother-in-laws Jim Krobetz and Michael Carpenter.”
Sally said that building the statue took over a year.
Creating Paul
Deana remembers her brother Bruce, who was 29 at the time, kneeling down like Paul Bunyan so Dean could take measurements that then multiplied to get the size of each piece of the statue.
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“The elbow to the shoulder, how he would hold the ax,” she said. “I remember Bruce sitting in one position for quite awhile while dad would take measurements. I also remember the structure being welded right out in our yard down by my dad's garage. I'd sneak out there when they weren't around. There was a ladder that went all the way up to the head and I would climb up there, even though I wasn't supposed to. I climbed out on the braces to the shoulders, and all around him like it was a jungle gym and then got out of there before anyone saw me."
Sally recalls Paul’s head being made in her brother Jim’s garage.
“The frame was made of steel and fiberglass,” she said. “We used bailing twine for his beard. We used the paint they use for vehicles on the statue so it wouldn’t chip. It looked so bright when it was new. When the statue was done, my dad and my mom Beverly were the grand marshals in the Paul Bunyan Days parade for several years.”
Deana said Dean also gave Paul Bunyan some extra mechanical features. “He built it so the jaw and eyes were able to move and blink and his head could turn,” she said. “I was a kid, so I don't remember why that part wasn't finished.”
Moving Paul to Akeley
“It took two trips to bring Paul uptown,” Deana said, recalling that the head was brought to Akeley in the back of a pickup truck. “They moved the body to town with a tow truck. Once they moved the metal structure of the skeleton uptown, then they started with the fiberglass and the details to finish it there.
She remembers Paul Bunyan’s head was brought to Akeley in the back of a pickup truck, and longtime Akeley resident and logger Red Johnson set it on the body framework with a crane. .
“Once the head was attached, they finished the work on the body with the fiberglass and the painting,” she said. “So it was finished from the head down.”
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A family legacy
“My brother Jim built another statue after Paul he named Charlie the dragon,” Deana said. “That dragon sits in his front yard and talks and moves and blows smoke.
“All of my brothers took after my dad. He taught them how to build and sculpt. He taught us girls, too. I've helped do repairs on the statue ever since I was old enough. It's something dad passed down to all of us. It was a wonderful gift. Bruce and his son Adam run the Krotzer Construction business.”
Deana said Dean also did one special project at Northland Lodge near Walker in the 1980s, building Paul Bunyan’s Guest House out of concrete.
“It looks like a giant tree stump with an ax leaning against it,” she said. “The inside was decorated with everything Paul Bunyan. A giant chandelier lantern, a dresser with Paul's buttons. We also built all of the furniture.”
Deana said there are still a lot of Krotzer family members around Akeley. “It's a big big family with around 30 grandkids in the area,” she said.
Event schedule
The 75th annual Paul Bunyan Days celebration kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Friday with a fish fry at Paul’s Patio and music by the Pels. There will be a Kiddie parade at 6:30 p.m. music by Nate’s Fish from 7 to 10 p.m. and a youth dance from 8 to 11 p.m.
Saturday's events include Audrey’s Purple Plaid run to raise money to help area residents fighting cancer at 9 a.m., a treasure hunt at 10:30 a.m., a kids fishing contest at 2:30 p.m. and musical performances from 3 p.m. until midnight.
Sunday there will be a worship service at 10 a.m. at Paul’s Patio, a grand parade at 1 p.m. and an ice cream and pie social afterwards.
A full schedule of events is included in the Enterprise newspaper and on the Akeley Paul Bunyan Days Facebook page.
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