In the mid-1970s, about two dozen beautifully sculpted animals were placed in Volga’s City Park.

The collection represented the remarkable work of a talented amateur sculptor, the late Alfred Swenson, who farmed 5 miles south and 1 mile west of Volga.    

The park’s animal menagerie was even more unique because Swenson sculpted with cement that was held to form by twisted and bent barbed wire fencing. He started his unusual sculpting hobby in the 1930s.   

By the 1950s and 1960s his farm home’s front yard was filled with all sorts sculpted animals ranging from an aardvark to a zebra. Through the years he also carefully created deer, moose, rhinoceros, kangaroo, skunk, giraffe, penguin and many other present-day and prehistoric animals. Swenson also sculpted human figures and lawn ornaments such as bird baths. 

Early newspaper accounts of his work indicate that the first animal he replicated was an aardvark because, he said, it was the first pictured animal in his encyclopedia. His life’s most difficult work, according to the article in the Brookings County Museum records, was a cowboy astride a running horse. 

The most difficult part of that work was the cowboy’s lariat and its wide loop seeming to twirl over the cowboy’s head. The details of the horse’s bridle, saddle, stirrups and reins also demanded delicate cement work. Unfortunately, because of those especially fragile parts, the roping cowboy was the first of the park collection to deteriorate beyond repair.     

Into the 2000s, others of the sculpted herd were damaged and judged to be unsafe for display. One reason for the statues’ deterioration was that the cement and barbed wire fencing reacted to extreme temperature changes. Also, the animals’ ears, tails and often spindly legs could be easily and unintentionally damaged by enthusiastic youngsters touching and handling the statues. A few other pieces were probably damaged or destroyed by late-night park vandalism. 

Two of Swenson’s smaller statues, a skunk and a penguin, were rescued years ago from the outdoor display and placed in the park’s nearby Brookings County Museum. But by 2015, only one animal statue remained standing. It was Swenson’s 12-foot giraffe.

Even the surviving giraffe displayed the ravages of nearly five decades in the park. Its right shoulder was caved in, and the cement and barbed wire were falling away. It had also lost its tail and both ears, and it was badly in need of a new coat of paint.

Fortunately, Erica Howell lived adjacent to the park. For years she and her children had been frequent visitors and admirers of the sculpted displays. She retired a few years ago after 27 years of teaching art at Sioux Valley High School, and had long recognized the unique work of art in the park. She recently decided the giraffe should be saved, repaired and preserved.

She contacted Volga’s Concrete Conceptions, which estimated the cost of refurbishing the giraffe’s injured right shoulder would be $600. The Brookings County Museum took an interest in the project and offered to donate $300 toward that restoration. The Volga City Council agreed to provide the other half. Volga’s Ace Hardware gladly donated the paint. 

So the giraffe, the last remaining animal in Swenson’s unique menagerie, is this fall being nursed back to good health and a longer life, thanks to Howell’s efforts