Bronze deer soon will bound at Main & Idaho

A statue of two bounding white-tailed buck deer has been stuck in city storage for years.

But this summer the bronze animals will find their way out to pose at one of Kalispell’s most prominent intersections.

The Kalispell City Council on Monday approved installing the heroic-sized statue at the northwest corner of Main and Idaho streets. That formality should end the city’s saga of animal statues.

In November 2007, council members commissioned the $35,000 deer statue by Sherry Salari Sander as well as a $91,000 grizzly bear statue by Daniel Parker for another corner at the intersection.

Both artists are renowned Montana sculptors.

The grizzly bear statue and 30 smaller grizzly statues for Kalispell to sell to recoup its costs for the project failed to materialize since the city never made its promised payments for the artwork.

Council members recently pulled the plug on that project when they settled a breach of contract lawsuit Parker filed against the city in 2011. Under that settlement, the city gets $5,000 of its initial $10,000 payment back — but no bears.

With that issue resolved, city officials decided to do install the deer statue that has remained under wraps in city storage for several years, even after a volunteer built a concrete display pedestal for it at the intersection.

“We do have this statue. It’s purchased, acquired and in storage. We thought it would be a good time to bring it up and proceed with installation sometime this summer,” City Manager Doug Russell told the City Council on Monday.

The statues were commissioned on the brink of a deep national recession that stressed city budgets. And as the issue has lingered unresolved it has generated some grumbling among City Council members.

Voting to settle the lawsuit over the grizzly bear statue a few weeks ago, Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher shared her belief that public art should not be paid for with public dollars.

Council member Bob Hafferman said he’s glad to see the issue end. He also questioned the wisdom of installing a visual distraction at one of the city’s busiest intersections, calling it an invitation for accidents, but voted in favor of the installation to “get her done.”

“There was a contract signed and I think we have to honor it,” Hafferman said about the statue and its display location. “It’s just as well to get it over with and let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.”

Pam Carbonari, director of the Kalispell Downtown Association and Kalispell Business Improvement District and the city’s former mayor, told the City Council it’s about time the deer statue goes up.

“No matter how you stand on public art or the city spending funds on art, this [statue] has been paid for and sits in storage,” Carbonari said. “It’s time to get it up, to get it out of storage and allow for people to enjoy it, rather than sitting and collecting dust.”

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.