Miss Liberty

This being Election Day, it seems fitting that I introduce you to northern Michigan's Miss Liberty.  This and other monumental artworks are the creation of Tom Moran, owner of Moran Iron Works, Inc., on M-68 in Onaway, halfway between Rogers City and I-75.  Moran Iron Works normally fabricates very large industrial equipment, such as the immense buckets that go on the front of those equally immense dozers used in open pit mines.

In 1989 Tom Moran began making unusual floats for the Onaway Fourth of July Parade.  These typically have a patriotic theme, which seems only appropriate for Independence Day.  Among his creations are busts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln's is in copper, like the penny), the Bald Eagle, Miss Liberty's Torch, and a bust of the Unknown Soldier.  Miss Liberty is especially eye-catching as she sits just off M-68 west of Onaway, next to a convenience store.

Onaway's Miss Liberrty is more slender than the original.

She also has a very sharp jaw line.

If someone is being annoyingly patriotic, try asking,
"How does the Statue of Liberty wear her hair?"
Correct answer: in a bun!  A real patriot will know.

Liberty Enlightening the World, in New York Harbor, is round-faced and peaceful.  Moran's Miss Liberty seems thinner and more severe.  But every artist must have his or her license, and Moran's monumental bust is reasonably faithful to the original, even to hairstyle.  George Washington meditates a short distance up the road, in the center of a large cornfield.  Abe, long on display along the road, is nowhere to be seen at the moment.  For more information, go to:  http://www.moraniron.com/artwork/html/artwork.php

And remember to vote today!  Whatever your party — Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green,  Socialist Worker, Modern Whig, or Mugwump — we all have an oar to pull. •••