TULSA, Okla. — The City of Tulsa released the final renderings of the Cry Baby Hill statue to be built on Route 66.
2 News covered this story from the beginning, when the artist selected by the city released these renderings.
The original renderings garnered a lot of negative feedback from neighbors, Cry Baby Hill participants, and event organizers. Some argued the artist should have been a local artists, while others said the statue wasn't representative of the Cry Baby Hill culture.
Some just thought it was plain ugly.
We spoke with artist Ken Kelleher about all the feedback:
Kelleher then released these revised renderings.
With the local bar Soundpony featured in the second renderings, we went to the owner of Soundpony and co-founder of Cry Baby Hill to see how he felt about the updated renderings.
The final renderings released by the City of Tulsa don't feature any Soundpony imagery.
The City of Tulsa released this statement about the final renderings:
“After several meetings with stakeholders, including Tulsa Tough representatives and Cry Baby Hill founders, we have chosen this final iteration of the Cry Baby Cry Roadside Attraction. While we are aware that projects like this rarely receive unanimous support, we, along with Ken Kelleher, believe we have arrived at a rendering capable of representing the story of Cry Baby Hill and Tulsa Tough to the thousands of Route 66 travelers from around the world who pass through Tulsa. As we continue to meet with our local artists, we will continue to work with the community on the City’s public arts process. We are grateful to everyone who has worked with the City to get us to this point, and we are eager to see Tulsa’s newest Roadside Attraction come to life.”
The statue isn't the only addition to the Cry Baby Hill area.
In October, the City of Tulsa announced a new hotel will also be built on Cry Baby Hill.
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