FAST: The Fiberglass Statue Factory

Sparta, Wisconsin

Who hasn't wondered, when driving past a giant Viking or bull or strawberry: "Who built that big thing anyway?"

Odds are that if it appeared in the last 20 years, it was made in Sparta, WI, in the workshops of Fiberglass Animals, Shapes & Trademarks Corp., or simply FAST.

Artist Jerry Vettrus has been running this studio of stupendousness since 1983, when he bought out Creative Display, the company that he worked for, and assumed the mantle of titan-builder.

A drive past FAST headquarters is usually a good bet for a photo op, as one never knows what odds 'n' ends will be strewn across the lawn, fresh out of the casting mold or paint shop. Where else on this planet can you get an eight-foot-tall ice cream cone, a twenty-foot-wide pumpkin, a thirty-foot-long snail, and a line of gaping-mouthed clown heads in the same shot?

Sparta's fiberglass artisans have forged such treasures as the Jolly Green Giant, Blue Earth, MN; the Killer Bee, Hidalgo, TX; and the sea monster that looms across the Heritage of the Sea gallery at the House on the Rock. A list of every FAST creation would be tiresome (and impossible, given FAST's capricious record-keeping), but here are some recent efforts:

• 12-foot-tall human heart slide -- Children's Museum, Appleton, WI
• 13-foot-tall cow (wearing sunglasses) -- Holy Cow Casino, Las Vegas, NV
• 25-foot-tall monkey -- South of the Border, SC (at Pedro's T-shirt Shop)
• 30-foot-tall cyclist -- Sparta, WI (hometown Sparta calls itself "Bicycling Capital of the World")

FAST also recently forged a 15-foot-tall pheasant for Gregory, SD, currently locked in a "World's Largest Pheasant" battle with rival SD town Huron (despite Fast's contribution, Huron's thirty-footer is still champ).

And Jerry is certain that a FAST Paul Bunyan stands just west of Charleston, VA, on I-64. But, well, maybe it wasn't a Bunyan...maybe it was a big elephant or an Indian chief, or maybe it was a Bunyan, but in Charleston, SC? Old Dominion Roadsiders may want to drive I-64 for verification....

FAST stores over 300 molds for oft requested objects. The reusable models are probably less trouble and more profitable, but it's the one-of-a-kind civic and commercial sculptures that best mold the roadside landscape.

Jerry's masterwork (and, perhaps, the project that exhausted Creative Display) is the mighty muskie at the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, WI. It took Jerry nine months to sculpt this 145-foot-long fish in 1979, still the world's largest. Its reinforced fiberglass construction will ensure that it, like all FAST creations, will be puzzling archaeologists well into the 21st century.

November 2005: F.A.S.T. is producing a sculpture designed by Donald Lipsky for Camp Randall stadium, U of WI, Madison, Wisconsin. It is a 40 tall "pile" of footballs appearing to be carved from granite.

March 2005: F.A.S.T. continues to create amusing and amazing fiberglass sculptures for business, towns and schools. The company was acquired by Jim Schauf in 2000 (Jerry Vettrus still works at F.A.S.T.). Jim reports they recently completed a set of four huge, stylized Indian busts holding drumsticks over a War Drum-shaped building at Sisseton Wahpeton College, Agency Village, South Dakota.

More information at their website