Chicago Public Radio, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, and Long Haul Productions will host a special public premiere of The Enchanted Highway, a half-hour radio documentary profiling artist Gary Greff’s attempt to save his dying prairie hometown by building giant metal sculptures along a lonely strip of county road. His goal: to transform the town – Regent, North Dakota – into the Metal Art Capital of the World, a tourist mecca.
This event, at which Greff will speak and show video of his massive project, is free to the public. Refreshments will be served.
The Enchanted Highway will also air on Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ) Sunday, March 6, at 6 p.m. and again on their “Eight Forty-Eight” program Tuesday, March 8, at a time to be determined.
More on Greff and the documentary…
For the past twelve years, Greff has been building magnificent metal sculptures along a 30–mile stretch of road leading from Interstate 94 to Regent, ND, where the majority of residents are over fifty, and the population – currently 200 – is plummeting. The documentary details Greff’s dogged struggle to raise money and craft the sculptures, which include a giant tin family (where the tin father’s hat is the size of a small car), a 51-foot tall silhouette of Teddy Roosevelt on a rearing horse, a flock of pheasants that weighs over 30,000 pounds, and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the world’s largest metal sculpture, “Geese in Flight.” Greff’s plans also include a motel, dinner theater, and a metal art theme park. Says one resident, “He truly believes he can save this town.”
Long Haul Productions, an award–winning media production company, has followed Greff’s work for the past three years. The documentary includes archival tape that Greff has collected since the project began.
For more information call (773) 384 3154 or email dan@longhaulpro.org or visit www.longhaulpro.org