The City of Midland Parks & Recreation Department began to renovate the beloved and cherished historic Dennis the Menace Park. They looked for a sculptor online to create playful themed sculptures of Dennis for different sections of the park.
It began with a phone call to me, Marcey White. The caller asked about creating some Dennis the Menace statues for a park. I recognized the caller’s area code and asked if it was for the Dennis the Menace Park in Midland, Texas? Surprised, the caller responded, “Why yes, how’d you know?”
I informed them that I had lived in Midland for about 24 years and Tom had for grown up in Midland living there for 35 years. I said, “Our daughter fell off the airplane at the park and broke her arm. And Tom grew up playing in that park. All of our five kids were born in Midland and our first grandson as well. We know the park well; how can we help?”
Needless to say, both Tom and I were thrilled to be able to create a line of Dennis the Menace statues for this special park. It is filled with childhood memories for us! Also, amazing that our siblings and kids grew up playing there. Because of that, it was a joy to create these playful and charming statues of Dennis. Tom created six themed Dennis’ sculptures for each section of the park.
The park was designed with five distinct themed play areas . They are – a baseball area, a splash pad, a treehouse area, a Western town, and an airplane play area. Tom created six different designs. One for the entrance to greet every visitor, and one for each specific play area of the new park design.
Three of the designs have been installed in the park. And the Midland Parks & Recreation Department welcomes sponsors for the other three designs to be cast for the park.
Call for more information. Learn how you can sponsor a sculpture for the Dennis the Menace Park in Midland, Texas. Or, how you can have a casting of these delightful Dennis sculptures for your own park or playground.
Tom, who is a kid at heart and is very funny. And he was given free rein to create these Dennis the Menace statues. He wanted to express the fun, joy and laughter that comes naturally to kids. He first created an “Adventurer/Explorer Dennis”. It that stands at the entrance of the park. Dennis peers through a large telescope in this bronze statue. The sculpture of Adventure Dennis greets each person who enters the extremely popular park.
Next, Tom designed a “Slugger Dennis”. It was placed in the baseball themed area of the part. it is a sculpture of Dennis swinging a bat with a baseball cap on and his typical overalls.
The “Pirate Dennis” stands in the splash pad area of the park. It was sponsored by the generous donations of Kyle and Jamie Stallings and their family. Kyle is the CEO and founder of Desert Royalty Company, an oil and investment firm headquartered in Midland. The Stallings grandkids helped make the decision on which one of Tom’s designs they wanted to sponsor. The Stallings’ grandkids love playing at the park and were happy to help choose the Dennis for the splashpad.
“Pirate Dennis” has a toy parrot on his shoulder, a wooden sword and an eye patch! There is a pirate ship at the splash pad. Tom wanted to tap into the imagination of children as they swashbuckle their way through adventures at the splash pad.
Donors continue to be sought for the three more Dennis statues that Tom has designed. They are: the “Root’n’ Tootin’ Cowboy Dennis,”; the “Carpenter Dennis” and the “Aviator Dennis” . The Carpenter Dennis is building his treehouse while eating a cookie with hammer on his belt and wood under his arm. It would go into the treehouse portion of the Park. And as a young “Aviator Dennis” he is flying an airplane in his hand.
Interested donors may call Laurie Williams, Parks and Recreation Manager, at (432) 685-7370 to sponsor one of Tom’s bronze sculptures for this childrens park. Or call us directly to get started!
All of the six playful sculptures designed by Tom are available for recast for other parks. These are also available in tabletop bronze size for those nostalgic for the cartoons of their youth.…Tom & Marcey White
