Sir Albert and the Dragon
Regent, North Dakota
The idea for Sir Albert and the Dragon came to Gary Greff after he had opened the Enchanted Castle hotel in Regent's old high school. He had planned to create more sculptures along the Enchanted Highway leading south from the interstate into town -- a giant spider, a giant motorcycle -- but running the hotel took all of his time. So he decided to build a sculpture in town itself -- in this case, on the school's old playground -- and tie it thematically to the castle hotel.
Sir Albert, 41 feet tall, rests his longsword atop his shield, defending the castle from the 100-foot-long dragon, which seems disadvantaged by tiny wings and arms, but menaces with a mouth of sharp teeth and a serpentine tongue. Both figures are welded assemblages from pieces of scrapped oil well tanks.
Sir Albert was originally dubbed Sir Regent, in honor of the town. However, Gary decided to rename him for Albert Dobitz, a local farmer who had leased Gary the land for the Enchanted Highway's Fisherman's Dream sculpture, and who had volunteered to cut and stain every piece of wood in the castle. "Also," said Gary, "'Sir Albert' is kind of a royal name."
Gary began work on the sculpture in 2016 and hopes have it completed by the end of 2023, at which point the dragon will belch flames every hour.