My town of Mason City has a lot to offer and one of the best things, in my humble opinion, has been the Sculpture Walk that they have installed this year.  I blogged about it here and here and here!  It took me 3 posts to show them all and many of you commented on the beauty of what the artists have to offer in the way of unique and interesting sculptures.

My favorite by far was the one in front of the library entitled Circle of Friends created by artist Karen Crain.

If you read those posts you know that the community is “voting” on these sculptures and the one with the most votes will be purchased by the city to be kept in Mason City.  I was disappointed that this sculpture was not included in the voting but as artist Karen Crain confirmed in her comment on that final post it was because it exceeded the cost that the city had allotted for the purchase of the People’s Choice.

I was not the only one who thought that this was THE perfect sculpture for placement in front of our fabulous Mason City Public Library.  Kay Sloan, a longtime board member of the library, purchased and donated the sculpture to the city with the only stipulation being that it remain where it is .  I was thrilled and while I did not attend the unveiling and reception that was held for this generous woman I did at least send her a thank you note for her contribution to the city.   The local newspaper, The Globe Gazette, wrote about the event here.

Thank you, Kay Sloan, for your very generous contribution of the perfect sculpture  to grace our library grounds.  Thank you to artist Karen Crain for the beautiful piece that was created.  We are all blessed by it.  When my husband looked at it he said “that was you, wasn’t it?”  Pretty much.   A lifelong reader and lover of all things with the written word—this sculpture captures what my ideal day is—curled up with a good book.

What part do books play in your life?   Let me know in the comments below.  I would love to hear.