Hatch, New Mexico -
Teako's Giants of Hatch

Teako's Giants of Hatch

Cluster of roadside fiberglass statues surround a downtown eatery. Uncle Sam, Mama and Papa Burger, an ice cream guy. Say hi to Teako if he's working the grill. Roadsideamerica.com Report... [10/31/2010]

Hatch, New Mexico - Space Race – No Squirming Hatch Blowers in NM

Statues at Sparky's BBQ: Hatch has accepted delivery of a 65-foot-tall nuclear missile, which it plans to erect out by the highway to attract visitors to the town. It's part of Hatch's town slogan, "The New Gateway to Space." [07/08/2010] Complete Story...

Teako's Land of the Giants

Drunken idiots may have been the attackers who knocked an eight-foot-tall rooster off of its rooftop perch outside of Sparky's BBQ in Hatch. The rooster, also named Sparky, had stood for about a year atop a GMC Suburban that was parked across the street from the restaurant, and was actually one of the smaller members of owner Teako Nunn's fiberglass menagerie.

It was found on the ground the one morning (along with empty beer bottles), snapped off at the ankles, its red comb cracked. The Nunns, Teako and Josie, attribute the damage to alcohol-fueled stupidity, not an anti-Sparky's (or rooster) hate crime, and vowed to repair Sparky and the Suburban in time for Hatch's Labor Day weekend Chile Festival Parade. [RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 07/24/2011]

Uncle Sam's Pepper

The Uncle Sam statue outside of Sparky's Burgers now holds a giant green chili pepper, one of the specialties of Sparky's menu and New Mexico's official state vegetable.

Teako Nunn, owner of Sparky's, had the pepper custom-built by Mark Cline, the fiberglass virtuoso who created Dinosaur Kingdom and Foamhenge. The pepper is another in a long list of surprises sprung by Teako on his home town.

Teako said that local farmers shook his hand when they saw the pepper rise into place. [RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 01/29/2011]

Uncle Sam

From December 2009 - spotted an Uncle Sam holding a Christmas Tree. [Josie Nunn, 01/09/2010]