Northeast Minneapolis lizard sculpture smashed in car crash

A beloved northeast Minneapolis sculpture took successful this weekend when a automotive drove off the highway and crashed into it.

The Minneapolis Police Division mentioned a automotive crashed into the sculpture simply earlier than 3 a.m. on Saturday. There have been no accidents. Muddy tire tracks present the automotive’s path over the grass and into the sculpture.

A lizard head sits in a yard with a shed and power lines in the background. — The Lizzie the Lizard shed, because it’s referred to as colloquially, sits partially destroyed in northeast Minneapolis on Monday after it was struck by a automobile over the weekend.

Ben Hovland | MPR Information

“Lizard Lounge” dwells on the garden of East Facet Neighborhood Companies, which administers social providers, childcare and an alternate highschool. The lizard sculpture’s larger-than-life head stands proud of a totally operational shed, the again legs and tail out the opposite facet.

The crash ripped the lizard’s head out of the shed, leaving the sculpture cut up in two.

MPR Information is your trusted useful resource for the information you want. Together with your help, MPR Information brings accessible, brave journalism and genuine dialog to everybody – freed from paywalls and limitations. Your reward makes a distinction.

a woman stands next to a lizard sculpture — Sculptor Mary Johnson on the day that the Lizard Lounge was put in in northeast Minneapolis in August 2020.

Courtesy of Mary Johnson

Sculptor Mary Johnson began constructing Lizard Lounge in 2008 at Franconia Sculpture Park. It’s constructed with stucco, impressed by Nineteen Fifties-era roadside points of interest. In 2020, East Facet Neighborhood Companies purchased it and moved it to its property.

“It was beloved by kids and the neighborhood alike,” Johnson mentioned.

Neighbors on social media mourned the lack of the native attraction.

East Facet Neighborhood Companies President Mary Anstett mentioned the group is trying into repairing the sculpture and dealing with the motive force’s insurance coverage.

“I’ve already been approached by neighborhood neighbors who wish to assist to guarantee our lizard is restored,” Anstett mentioned. “Over the weekend many households have stopped by in help and disappointment.”

Johnson mentioned the sculpture is valued at $55,000.

RIP Lizzie the Lizard