Gaffney, S.C., has the “Big Peach,” Enterprise, Ala., has the Boll Weevil Monument and of course, Marietta has the “Big Chicken.”
Now, if Chris Lindland has his way, some lucky southeastern town will become the home of “Kudzilla,” a 40-foot monster covered with kudzu, the invasive, fast-growing vine known to devour trees, utility poles, buildings and everything else in its path.
Lindland, with help from Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist and "Georgia Garderner" Walter Reeves, is trying to raise $50,000 on the crowd-funding site Kickstarter for what he calls "America's next great roadside attraction."
More than 100 backers have pledged more than $11,000 of that goal in the first 8 days of the month-long fundraising period.
“We want to harness the amazing power of kudzu to create a creature of our own,” Lindland says on his Kickstarter plea.
“Your pledges will finance the construction of a massive skeleton, which will then be covered and smothered in kudzu,” he says. “Given kudzu’s rapid growth rate, our botanical beast should take shape in three to six months.”
Lindland says that while metro Atlanta is the likely future home of Kudzilla, “we’re open to different locations.”
Lindland says that any money raised above the $50,000 goal will only make Kudzilla more spectacular. For $70,000, the beast will breath fire, for $90,000, it will have moving arms, for $250,000 it will be “much taller” than 40 feet, and for $500,000, it will be “whoa, really tall.”
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