Sisters City Council debates controversial Lane Frost-Red Rock statue proposal for Locust Street roundabout
Tracee Tuesday
SISTERS, Ore. {KTVZ} — In Sisters Wednesday night — a debate over public art is stirring strong opinions. At the heart of it — a proposed bronze statue honoring rodeo legend Lane Frost and the famous bull, Red Rock.
The Sisters City Council met for a workshop and regular meeting, with one agenda item generating plenty of discussion — the roundabout art procurement process. One proposal — a life-sized bronze of Lane Frost riding Red Rock — would be placed in the roundabout at U.S. 20 and Locust Street.
Four of the five council members say they oppose putting the statue there, citing safety concerns.
Mayor Jennifer Letz said: “We just feel that if there’s something that’s too attractive, it’s going to, maybe attract the type of activity that we don’t want.”
Councilman Gary Ross offered: “I don’t want somebody to be clobbered by some idiot going too fast around that round about what they’re trying to get across the street so that you could get a picture in front of a piece of art, you care about.” Many residents in favor of the statue say that reasoning is hard to accept — pointing out Red Rock’s local roots and legendary status in rodeo history.
“The safety issue that you’re talking about is nonsense to me, and you mentioned, you know, you got a thousand critters on the fence down here and cougars and lions and people, you don’t see people crashing… And fact is, the traffic going so slow. If everybody bumped into each other, you wouldn’t have any issue,” said Sisters resident, Gary Tewalt.
“The history is so important in this town has zero history that we support, and Red Rock could be the first piece of it,” said Curt Kallberg. Councilman Michael Preedin was the lone member in favor of placing the statue in the roundabout.
“It’s a beautiful piece of art. It couldn’t be more Sisters-based; Red Rock grew up in this town.”
The sculpture’s co-designer, Dyrk Godby, spoke about his passion for Red Rock.
“Later in life, they retired him [Red Rock], but they brought him out of retirement back to his hometown, and back to the arena where he grew up and learned his trade and had a match between Lane Frost, who was also the world champion bull rider in 1987. So it was kind of an all Ali-Frazier moment was the biggest bout in rodeo history right here in Sisters.”
Red Rock was born in 1976 in Burns, Oregon, later raised in Sisters by stock contractor Mert Hunking. The bull went on to buck off 309 professional cowboys without a qualified ride before retiring in 1987. In 1988, Red Rock faced Lane Frost in the famed “Challenge of the Champions,” including a showdown at the Sisters Rodeo — where Frost eventually made a qualified ride in four of seven matchups.
The Sisters City Council members decided to push the decision to a future meeting — and may consider forming an art committee to weigh in on roundabout art projects.
No date has been set for when the statue proposal will come back before the council.