What's With This 18-Foot Statue in the Leelanau Peninsula?

Who is/was this giant Amazonian person who stands in the town of Northport?

First of all, just where is Northport, you ask? According to Pure Michigan, “Northport is situated near the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, overlooking Grand Traverse Bay.” It lies about 8 miles south of the very trip of the Leelanau Peninsula, and approximately 30 miles north of Traverse City.

Now, as for the young lady depicted in the picture, she is 18 feet of fiberglass and was used as a representative (now 'retired') for Uniroyal tires beginning in the 1960s. If she looks vaguely familiar, it could be because the man who created her had a “thing” for Jackie, the wife of President John F. Kennedy.

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He was a sculptor at International Fiberglass who fitted her with a removable dress that could be taken off to change her wardrobe, depending on the weather. Originally, all the statues were seen all across the country in nothing but bikinis. The scuttlebutt states that complaints began rolling in, mostly from housewives, who thought the statues were “too racy”. So, Uniroyal caved and sent them all back for revamping.

The statues soon resurfaced, wearing skirts and blouses. The statues were transported to different Uniroyal outlets and service stations from time to time.

So what’s with the raised hand? Is she waving at motorists? No...that arm was used to hold one of the Uniroyal tires. She also wore a watch on her other wrist. Since International Fiberglass had no contract with Uniroyal, they started using them as ‘Miss America’ models. To this day, less than 20 are known to survive.....and one of them is here in Michigan.....Northport, to be exact.

This particular statue has only been in this Michigan location for a very few years. If you happen to be traveling to that area sometime this year, take a diversion to Northport and get your selfies...you never know when it will disappear again.