TRR photo by David Hulse Highway Department workers Daryl Barnes and backhoe operator Tom Stewart (not pictured) helped land the eagle on Monday afternoon for Bob Burrow, right, of the Highland Renaissance Project. (Click for larger image)

‘The eagle has landed’

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED — Planned or not, those were Bob Burrow’s first words August 5 after a Town of Highland backhoe settled Kevin Ryerson’s bald eagle sculpture onto its footings at the new corner park under construction in Eldred.

The Barryville artist’s sculpture, hewn from a native Eldred pine tree, is the centerpiece of a circular dry-walled planter, which abuts a new cobbled park patio and reconstructed stone wall opposite the town hall.

Masonry and electrical work went on Monday as the deadline for the summer Renaissance competition drew down to less than three weeks. Burrow said the Highland Renaissance committee has high hopes. “We’re going for the big money,” he said.

The winners in the Renaissance judging will be announced at the Fall Harvest Festival at the 1969 Woodstock site in Bethel on August 25.