An eight-foot-tall statue of a T. rex dressed as Mr. Rogers has arrived at the TV studio where Rogers taped his show for over 30 years, beginning Feb. 19, 1968.

The statue, wearing slacks, a red cardigan, a rumpled shirt and necktie, and blue sneakers, is named "Fredosaurus Rex." Clutched in its claws are the puppets Henrietta Pussycat and King Friday XIII. A small trolley from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood can be seen driving up his tail.

Fredosaurus is a rare example of something good coming out of the awful public art statue auction movement, where communities buy bulk statues of cows or clowns, give them to local artists for modification, then place them outside of area businesses. The statues -- those that survive, anyway -- are collected months later and auctioned off to support a local charity.

Fredosaurus was a product of Pittsburgh's "Dinomite Days" several years ago, and stood in front of a downtown mall. It was then shipped to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Fred Rogers' boyhood home. Now it will stand permanently outside of WQED.

[12/31/2006]