A unique sculpture created by the owner of a local iron works company will be featured during the parade for the Lewis Day Festival on June 27th, and in an international art competition. Duane Weirich, of Weirich Welding, in Lewis, said he started working on a steel sculpture of an Eagle, in January. He later learned of a contest that’s held in Grand Rapids Michigan called “Art Prize Seven,” (www.artprize.org/) which runs from Sept. 23rd through Oct. 11th. Wierich entered his project April 20th, and has a venue lined-up to display the piece, which is made entirely out of scrap iron.

The Eagle is 12-feet from wing-tip to wing-tip, eight-feet tall, and weighs roughly 400-pounds. The base alone weighs 2,200 pounds. When finished, it will sit on top of a metal globe that turns. The project is entitled “America, Come Together.” Weirich says the eagle will be clamped to a U-S map on top of a globe.

He says he has about 200 hours into the project so far. The Eagle has 2,000 individual pieces of metal that comprise the feathers.  Wierich says he will travel with the eagle this fall to Michigan for the contest Art Prize contest. Billed as the World’s Largest Art Competition, there were 1,500 entries from 46 countries and 41 U-S States.

The awards are based on “People’s Choice, and by professional judges. There are cash prizes for the top ten finishers. When the contest is over, the Eagle will be sold. Weirich says he already has two people interested in purchasing it.

The parade in which the eagle will be featured on June 27th in Lewis, is military-themed, and features members of last year’s Cass County Honor Flight, along with many other area veterans. Grand Marshall’s for the parade are Dula Thompson and John Robinson, two of the oldest residents of Cass County.

A ceremony dedicating the Cass County Freedom Rock at Pioneer Park in Lewis gets underway at 4-p.m. The Rock was painted by Ray “Bubba Sorensen,” of Greenfield. A salute to Veterans fireworks display rounds out the activities, at dusk.