Trolls coming out from under bridges and headed to Tupper Lake

By Dan McClelland

Trolls used to live under bridges. But this summer they are moving to Tupper Lake.

In preparation for their arrival to The Wild Center this summer, officials there have been spreading the word around the region about the thousands and thousands who are coming to the Adirondacks to meet them.

In recent months, for example, the natural history museum marketing staff hosted four meetings with area business people to acquaint them of the crowds they should expect and how they can take advantage of them in a profitable way.

The following is what Director of Marketing & Visitor Experience Nick Gunn told an audience recently in Long Lake.

“Hello everyone, thank you all for being here. This is an exciting project that we've been working on for five years at this point. We're thrilled to have this exhibit coming and to have all of you here is really great and really exciting.”

He gave a brief overview of this presentation that evening. “We'll introduce you to Thomas Dambo, the artist, and his work; we’ll 
tell you a little bit about the exhibit that's coming to The Wild Center; what it is meant for other organizations and places that have hosted it. We’ll also tell you what The Wild Center has planned, and then how you all can be a part of it.

He explained to the Long Long group that Thomas is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. As a younger person, he was a street artist, and a hip hop artist and later in life turned to a sculptor. 
“He's now the world's renowned sculptor working in recycled material. Everything that he builds he builds out of raw material…it’s all trash and garbage.”

Mr. Gunn said the artist’s prolonged message is proof that trash can be treasure. At the core, his artwork is meant for humans to become better stewards of the Earth and what better message for The Wild Center in this area as a whole to share than one of those sustainability messages?

“So we are thrilled to have his work at The Wild Center!”
This is the first time Thomas' work has been exhibited in New York State, something that we're very, very proud of at The Wild Center, and something that we hope that you all are proud of, too.

“There's a reason that he chose this place, and it's not because of only The Wild Center, but the community, what this place means as a whole.

We hope that you all feel the same sort of pride that we feel whenever we talk to Thomas about The Wild Center and about the Adirondacks as a whole.”

Over the last 10 years, Thomas has been building these larger-than-life recycled material trolls, mostly out of materials like pallet wood.
“Everything is site-specific and unique to the location where it's built. So no two trolls look the same. The materials are never the same. 
“These things are ephemeral and meant to be touched and played with and climbed on.

“They're not meant to be a traditional piece of art behind a velvet rope that's meant to be admired from afar.”

Mr. Gunn said every troll has its own name and personality and backstory that comes with it. He said that there are over 170 of these trolls spread across the world, the majority of them in this country. “Every year millions of people come to see them across the globe!”

There are so many followers that there's a Troll Hunter's Facebook group, with over 150,000 followers, he said.

This is the first time one of his exhibits have been staged in New York State. The closest ones are in central New Jersey and Providence, Rhode Island, both over five hours away, and then Booth Bay, Maine, at least eight hours away. There are none in Canada, he told the Long Lake attendees. 
He asked them: “Why would you bring large wooden trolls to The Wild Center? It's a fair question.” 
“Thomas's goal of sustainability in being better stewards of the Earth closely matches the mission of The Wild Center. We're constantly looking for new ways to engage people and create a passion for nature…
Building new and interactive on- ramps for that.

Mt. Gunn said the exhibit is planned from June 1 through October 31.

In some of the places where his trolls have been displayed, he often builds permanent trolls which stay there…and don’t ever move. More recently, however, he’s created trolls that are moved from site to site.

That’s the type coming to The Wild Center this summer.

He detailed some of the backstories of some of the trolls. Among those coming here will be Ibbi Pip, the birdhouse troll which will be landing on The Wild Center’s Forest Music Trail.

Another troll will be Rosa Sunfinger, the botanical troll who will be growing wildflower plants in a real car (with roof torn off) and she will be situated in the back corner of one of the parking lots. “We are going to plant Rosa’s car with native wildflowers and pollinator plants,” explained Nick. 
Another troll that is coming is called Basse Buller, the art troll, that will be located in the Pines Play area. Beller comes with this gigantic bucket that's filled with stones and sticks and mud and all sorts of things to encourage people to get out there and create art with some of these natural materials.

Another of the trolls coming is Kamma Can,
the treasure troll. Kamma Can has a necklace of plastic garbage…things like water bottles, spray bottles, and hoses, etc. Kamma Can is coming to The Fen Trail, a brand new one-mile loop that goes down to the Raquette River and on which can be found the new Raquette River Roll, Mr. Gunn related. He said The Wild Center staff worked closely with Thomas to select the best places for each of the troll guests this summer.

As it turns out The Wild Center is built on an old farm dump on the Pisanchin Farm.

He said in the initial excavation of the museum many old artifacts- from baby carriages to medicine bottles- emerged from the area that was once the old dump. He noted some of the materials were used in building last year’s Raquette River Roll “and so there will be a symbiosis between Kamma Can and her story and what actually happens on that trail.

Another troll is Sofus Lotus, the listening troll, who will be situated between Wild Walk and Stickwork. “He’s actually listening to the earth. And then Ronja Redeye, who is the speaker troll and the unofficial leader of the group of six, should be located right outside of the main entrance of The Wild Center.

Mr. Gunn said The Wild Center staff has created a quiz for the public to have fun with and learn all about the trolls and which ones their own personalities may be aligned with.

He shared with the group the impact some of the artist’s exhibits have had on the places around America they have been staged.

years. 
On the low end, he said, many places saw a 25% increase in visitors. At Filoli Gardens outside of San Francisco which he attended last fall visitor traffic more than doubled from a typical annual count of 81,000 to over 177,000. The California venue was similar in visitation to The Wild Center, he estimated, figuring the impact may be the same here.

“Thomas had a traveling exhibit just leaving North Carolina’s arboretum last month. “They went from 12,000 visitors in a six- week run to 100,000. 
“That's an 800% increase!”

He said while he was not trying to scare anyone, the North Carolina venue had to shut down at times because it was not prepared for all that extra traffic.

“I can assure you, however, The Wild Center is scaling up for it in a very appropriate fashion. But, again, it's hard to argue against some of these numbers and what it means for this local community.”

He gave other examples. “At Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, which is a small suburb just west of Milwaukee, they built a permanent troll last spring. 
In the first month, over 60,000 people visited with a direct economic impact of over $4 million.

“The Aullwood Audubon in Ohio also has a permanent one. When it was finished its attendance went up 700%. At the coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Thomas’ troll exhibit increased the annual visitor numbers from 227,000 visitors to 336,000 visitors.

He told the group “there is a lot of opportunity for this portion of New York State to show off all what we have to offer because there will be many people who are going to come here” to see our trolls.

“The really fun and interesting thing for us is these are also visitors who are not your typical Adirondack visitors, right? It's not necessarily the skiers in the winter and the hikers and paddlers in the summer. 
These are folks who most likely have never visited before, and are coming specifically to see these trolls. It just opens us up to a whole other group of visitors, which I think is great. It also means national news coverage. 
It means more hotel stays. It means more people in your shops and restaurants…Again, there's just a big, big opportunity here, with the people who will be coming.

This is not just an opportunity for The Wild Center. This is an opportunity for the entire North Country!”

He explained why.

The Wild Center is expecting an increase in traffic this summer because of the troll exhibit.

There are many strong indications including increased inquiries on the center’s social media platforms and channels. “He said typically 2,000 people a day” visit them. Those numbers bloomed to 60,000 a day the minute the news of the trolls visit went public last July, he noted.

Mr. Gunn said the robust interest has already translated into increase ticket reservations this summer.

He said for example there are some days this June when reserved tickets have already surpassed 500.

“For us that’s both crazy and exciting!”

He said too the staff at the Center have been hearing from lodging places and short-term rental “partners in the community” that their lodgings have been filling up.

More about the troll invasion coming in upcoming issues…