A monument known as the “Big Peanut” is back alongside a Georgia highway, nearly five years after the original one was destroyed during Hurricane Michael in 2018.
The “Big Peanut” was installed on June 12, 2023, said a GoFundMe page to rebuild the original — and was dedicated on July 20, noted the Associated Press.
While the original structure was built out of fiberglass, the new “Big Peanut” is made of sheet metal, something its creators hope will make the monument more durable against future weather events.
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The original peanut was erected in 1975, and is located near the town of Ashburn, Georgia. Ashburn is a small town of 9,000, with a large farming presence.
“I think it represents home,” said Ashley Miller, the executive director of the Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce, told the Associated Press. “I know it’s a small town, but when you say, ‘Have you seen the peanut?’ That’s me.”
The Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce raised almost $80,000 to rebuild the giant peanut statue.
The funds came from both the Georgia Department of Agriculture and from donations from residents of Turner County, the AP noted.
A GoFundMe page started in October 2018 stressed the importance of the Big Peanut statue on the area.
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“Any time a native Turner Countian is traveling away from home and tries to explain where they’re from, a go-to option is to say, ‘I’m from the town with the big peanut,’” wrote fundraiser organizer Sarah Mastrario Cook.
“The Ashburn peanut monument is a reminder of all of the hard-working farmers (peanut farmers especially but really all of them) that work in acres and not hours to feed our world. Please help us repair this important roadside site,” she said.
Georgia produces about half of the peanuts in the United States, the Georgia Peanut Commission’s…
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