Just a couple of hours before the red, blue, green and other colored lights began their display, some 40 people gathered around the metal column that was designed to sum up the history of Fort Dodge as the city celebrates the 150th anniversary of its charter.

The artwork is called “Chronicle” and it was dedicated Monday evening.

During the event, Mayor Matt Bemrich used the theme of fabric and thread to describe the community.

“Our community is woven together with many threads,” he said. “One of the important pieces of thread that makes the fabric of our community is art and culture. And standing here today you are now part of a legacy that is providing further strength to that fabric by helping dedicate this beautiful statue.”

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fort Dodge City Councilman Dave Flattery, center, speaks to a crowd of about 40 people gathered at First Avenue South and Ninth Street for the dedication of the sculpture called “Chronicle.”

Dan Perry, the artist who created the sculpture, described its elements. He said he did some research on the history of Fort Dodge and found that the city was built in part on gypsum mining. Gypsum, he said, is a white rock or powder that isn’t very interesting to look at. But he said when you look at it under a microscope, it has a unique crystalline structure. The base of the sculpture, he said, has a crystalline structure to mimic that of gypsum.

Protruding from the sculpture at a right angle is an architectural element called a corbel. Perry said that is to represent the days when Fort Dodge was known as “Little Chicago” and many significant buildings were constructed.

The central column, he said, represents growth like a plant emerging from a seed.

The very top of the sculpture, which Perry said is “more abstract,” represents the future.

“It shows you’re growing upward; you’re flourishing,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Artist Dan Perry walks with his son, Nolan, and daughter, Evelyn, before the Monday evening event dedicating his sculpture, “Chronicle.”

According to Perry, the LED lights within the sculpture will glow with 10 different colors. The lights, he said, should last for 20 years.

The Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable Foundation made a $70,000 grant to pay for the sculpture.

Rhonda Chambers, the president of the foundation, said public art like the sculpture has the power to inspire and spark debate.

“Everybody sees it differently,” she said. “That’s OK.”

The 22-foot tall sculpture was put in place on Sept. 20.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fort Dodge Mayor Matt Bemrich reads a proclamation dedicating the sculpture at the corner of First Avenue South and Ninth Street Monday evening. Dan Perry, the artist who created the sculpture, and Eric Anderson, director of the Blanden Memorial Art Museum, stand behind him.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Dan Perry, the Waterloo artist who created the sculpture entiitled “Chronicle,” stands in front of it while talking to a gathering of about 40 people who attended the dedication of the artwork at First Avenue South and Ninth Street Monday evening.