ELK HORN, Iowa (KMTV) — A giant troll sculpture is drawing visitors from across the country to a small town in southwest Iowa.
Fjord — created by world-famous Danish artist Thomas Dambo — now stands at the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, a Shelby County town that is part of the Danish Villages, the largest Danish settlement in the United States.
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"You can find beauty and adventure just – like in your own neighborhood because most of us haven't even explored where we are," Dambo said during an interview at the museum.
Dambo is known for his giant troll sculptures, made from recycled or reclaimed wood, often placed in unexpected locations.
"Pull people away from the beaten path and into small places, there's something really beautiful and authentic about that," Dambo said.
The community raised more than $500,000 to bring Dambo, his crew and the sculpture to the museum.
Executive Director Erik Andersen said the project will have a lasting impact: "It's been relationship changing for the museum and the Danish villages together and it's really revitalizing for the towns."
So-called "troll hunters" — people who travel to see Dambo's sculptures — began arriving even before Fjord was finished.
"The weekends around here are hilarious," Andersen said. "It's this stream of people: 'Well, we're from Kansas, we're from Colorado, we're from Texas, you know, we're going to see other trolls.'"
Board member Tonya Knudsen-Robson, who lives in Oregon, said it brings her closer to her heritage in the Danish Villages.
"I grew up with all of the fun, food, and the culture and the warmth, and the friendliness of Danish people; and it's important to me to pass that on to my own children," she said, standing with her dad and other museum volunteers.
The sculpture's full name is Fjord Færgemand — or "Ferry Man" — and depicts the troll ferrying Danish immigrants across the prairie to Iowa.
Dambo also wrote a poem to accompany the work, which will be at the Danish museum for at least ten years:
"The little humans call the giant troll the ferry man.
It carried them across the ocean to the prairie land.
At home they had their differences but now they learned to cherish them
because they were in this boat together to the very end.”
