OPEN WIDE! One of Dale Lewis's “Scraposaurs” along the Old Abe Trail and Galloway Street near downtown Eau Claire.

The 14 sculptures that appeared in Eau Claire and Altoona this week may be made of the kind of rusted scraps you would find in grandpa’s garage, but they’re evocative of a much earlier era: the one when dinosaurs ruled the earth.

The Scraposaurs, as they are called, are the creation of Minnesota sculptor Dale Lewis, who builds them from found objects and scrap metal ranging from railroad spikes to tractor parts. The prehistoric critters have visited town before, having been exhibited at Artisan Forge Studios in 2021. They most recently were on display in Sioux City, Iowa, and have now returned to the Chippewa Valley as part of the ever-expanding Sculpture Tour Eau Claire.

The Scraposaurs are now scattered along Galloway Street (beginning, as it happens, across the street from our very own Volume One World Headquarters) along a route that travels east past Banbury Place, onto River Prairie Drive, and into Altoona’s River Prairie development. (While they include T-Rexes and Spinosaurs, strictly speaking not all of the Scraposaurs are dinosaurs: The collection features oversized dragonflies and a couple of musk oxen, too.)

“Spinosaurus.”

While impressive, the metallic monsters are just a teaser for a larger sculptural invasion, said Julie Pangallo, who oversees the Sculpture Tour: She expects 61 new sculptures to come to town around May 18. That will bring the total number of sculptures in the tour to 150, up from about 100 this past year.

“We are by far the largest rotating (sculpture) tour in the U.S.,” Pangallo said.

The Sculpture Tour began with about 25 sculptures in 2011, and grew gradually until a few years ago when it was absorbed by Visit Eau Claire, the area’s tourism agency. “We took a huge jump, and a big part of that was partnering with Visit Eau Claire and being able to tap into their resources,” Pangallo said.

“Musk Ox Mom.”

In addition to the sculptures that will be installed later this month, works of art will also pop up this year on the renaissance fair grounds outside Chippewa Falls as well as in the Cannery District in Eau Claire.

“Basically we’re trying to get to a point where we rotate about a third of them every year, a third will be permanent, and a third will be local artists,” Pangallo said.

Meanwhile, the Sculpture Tour and Visit Eau Claire are working on plans for the third year of Color Block, a project that has brought public murals to buildings and alleyways in Altoona and Eau Claire. Work on the latest crop of murals by both established and emerging local artists will begin in June, Pangallo said.

Learn more about Sculpture Tour Eau Claire at www.visiteauclaire.com/sculpture-tour.