{"id":227280,"date":"2025-09-14T23:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T23:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/227280\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T23:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T23:09:11","slug":"large-peach-eggplant-sculptures-in-maryland-city-spark-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/227280\/","title":{"rendered":"Large peach, eggplant sculptures in Maryland city spark controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (7News) \u2014 A pair of oversized fruit sculptures in historic Ellicott City has sparked both laughter and controversy, and could soon be removed.<\/p>\n

Several months ago, a large peach sculpture was installed outside Georgia Grace Cafe. Cafe owner Paula Dwyer said she was thrilled when she saw it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was this big, beautiful orange peach,\u201d Dwyer said. \u201cAt first, honestly, I was like, wow, this is amazing. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Directly across the street, an enormous eggplant, or aubergine, appeared in front of The Wine Bin.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO | Dead vultures in Maryland test presumptively positive for bird flu<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

While many visitors have embraced the statues as playful additions to Main Street, some have popularized them as cheeky nods to body parts. David Carney, owner of The Wine Bin, said for years, the aubergine has been good for business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t quite understand the innuendo because I have one of those body parts, and it doesn\u2019t look like that, and it\u2019s not purple,\u201d said Carney. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird, comical really, that people think that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not everyone is amused. Merchants were recently told they may need to remove the sculptures. The sculptures, part of the Fund for Art in Ellicott City, were mentioned during last week\u2019s Historic Preservation Commission meeting. Some residents argued that the colorful installations distract from the city\u2019s historic architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory is really important,\u201d said nearby resident Ken McNaughton. \u201cIt\u2019s great artwork, but I guess it\u2019s not historic enough for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters, however, are fighting to keep the peach and eggplant in place. Don Reuwer, president of Waverly Real Estate Group, said hundreds of signatures have already been collected in support of the sculptures.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUnfortunately, the chairperson told me they weren\u2019t interested in petitions, that the merchants are only temporary, so they don\u2019t matter,\u201d Reuwer said. \u201cThat was just the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the sculptures\u2019 fates remain uncertain. Unless the businesses secure the necessary approvals, the sculptures may have to come down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (7News) \u2014 A pair of oversized fruit sculptures in historic Ellicott City has sparked both…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":227281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,8058,64,11368,1033,122794,122792,171,76111,122793,10674,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-227280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artwork","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-controversy","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-eggplant","15":"tag-ellicott-city","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-historic-preservation","18":"tag-peach","19":"tag-sculptures","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}