Conder proposing giant mandolin sculpture

This is rendering of a 30-foot-tall metal mandolin frame proposed for the roundabout on Kentucky 81 west of Owensboro.

Daviess County Commissioner Larry Conder says the community needs to make more efforts to promote Owensboro as the bluegrass music capital of the world.

And he’s proposing a 30-foot-tall metal mandolin frame in the roundabout on Kentucky 81 west of Owensboro.

If that doesn’t work, Conder said it could be placed at Yellow Creek Park, home of ROMP Fest, which draws more than 20,000 people to listen to bluegrass music each June.

Conder said the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has approved the construction in the roundabout.

But he said Daviess Fiscal Court wants to know more about the possibility of people slowing down to look at the sculpture and potentially causing accidents.

And there are some concerns that people might stop and run across the traffic lanes to take pictures.

The county would have to sign an agreement to maintain the roundabout if the sculpture is built, Conder said.

The sculpture would be 34 feet wide and need concrete pads to support it, he said.

Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said the state said it would be up to him whether to build it in the roundabout.

“People enter that roundabout at a pretty high speed,” he said. “I don’t want to approve something that could be a distraction and cause an accident.”

Castlen said, “I’m not opposed to putting it in a park. He (Conder) had lined up a donor for the roundabout. I don’t know if the donor would pay for it in the park.”

He said, “There is no money in our budget this year. But as long as ROMP is there, it would be good to have something in that park.”

Smaller sculptures of banjo frames, fiddle frames or guitar frames could be placed in other parts of the community, Conder said.

He said the estimated cost of the mandolin sculpture is upwards of $110,000.

Conder said, “I need to get the rest of the court on board. People need to see that we’re serious about being the bluegrass music capital of the world.”

Any construction is at least two months away, he said.

“I’m trying to get everybody on board,” Conder said. “Everybody I’ve talked to is in favor of it.”

Keith Lawrence, [email protected]

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In summer 2020, The New York Times coordinated a nationwide project to document the lives of Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved collaborating with 11 other local newsrooms around the U.S. The Messenger-Inquirer was the only newspaper from Kentucky in the collaboration. The resulting collection of stories was published Oct. 23, 2020, in the New York Times print edition and at nytimes.com/outofwork. The following list is the Messenger-Inquirer's local unemployment coverage from that time period; read more by clicking the "New York Times Project" header. Click on "Out Of Work In America" to go to the full