Turtles used in the Turtles About Town project are 100% fiberglass and measure 7 1/2' long, 34" tall, and 44" wide. Each weighs approximately 45 pounds. They arrived from the manufacturer with a primer coat resembling artists' gesso, ready for painting. After they are painted, each turtle will travel to George's Body Shop in St. Ignace to be coated in an automotive clearcoat for weather proofing.

Prewitt Fiberglass of Gibbon, Nebraska created our giant fiberglass turtles. The founder of this company, Bob Prewitt, started with the concept of building a fiberglass horse trailer, but prospective buyers didn't think it was big enough to hold a horse.  So, to prove that a horse would indeed fit into the trailer, he used the same manufacturing process to create full-sized fiberglass horses which were then displayed in the trailer. 

This led to his creating life-sized animal replicas, many of which are used for community fundraising projects such as Turtles Around Town. Today Prewitt Fiberglass manufactures more than 50 stock animals.

Twenty-one turtles traveled to Michigan in several truck shipments during Februrary and March 2004. (In one shipment they were accompanied by a New York-bound horse!) The few that were dropped off in the Detroit area were delivered by SUV to the artists.

Many were stored in the Grand Hotel warehouse in St. Ignace where they waited for ice to clear in the Straits. They then traveled by freight boat and dray to be delivered to Mackinac artists.

Click here for the photo journey of the turtle delivered to artist Marta Olson. This one will have made several trips across the Mackinac Bridge before he finds his final home!

After being painted and covered with an automotive clearcoat finish, the turtles were attached to cement bases and installed at various public locations on Mackinac Island during the summer of 2004.