Chief Garry statue removed from park

A crumbling concrete sculpture of Chief Garry, which has stood for 29 years in a city park also named for the historic Spokane Indian leader, has been removed.

The artwork by Native American artist Michael Paul was damaged beyond repair by vandals and the forces of nature, said Karen Mobley, the city of Spokane’s arts director. Unfortunately, it could not be removed without destroying it, and the contractor disposed of the debris.

“There was no way to repair him,” said Kathy Scacco, chairwoman of the Chief Garry Park Neighborhood Council. “We checked into having him replaced with a bronze one, but the price is way out of this neighborhood’s hands.”

Mobley said it would cost more than $100,000 to replace the statue of Garry with another one in a material of sufficient durability to hold up in the heavily used park.

The arts director said she received a call on Thursday from a Spokane tribal representative concerned about the sculpture’s demise. Mobley said a letter to the tribe a year ago about the removal of the sculpture went unanswered.

Chief Garry, a revered teacher and peacemaker, lived from 1811 to 1892.

The sculpture honoring him was built in place with reinforced steel bars and concrete along Mission Avenue in 1979 as part of a federal community development project. In recent years, vandals had destroyed the sculpture’s nose and broken its fingers so that only one finger remained on an outstretched arm to greet passing motorists. A time capsule placed inside the base of the sculpture was corroded by moisture, and its contents, including photographs, were all but destroyed by mildew.

The Garry sculpture will be replaced by a Native American-themed work by artist David Govedare, Mobley said. The totem, in corten steel, was donated by the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture. Govedare also created the “The Joy of Running Together” in Spokane’s Riverfront Park and “Grandfather Turns Loose the Ponies,” on the Columbia River near Vantage, Wash.