The return of Zooella: The elephant in the zoo and at the ice cream shop

SPENCER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s been 46 years since the only elephant ever housed at John Ball Zoo died. Now, she’s making a return.

After coming to the Grand Rapids zoo in 1965, Zooella the elephant was beloved by the people who came to see her. She died in 1978 — a rumor circulated it was due to a broken heart because her trainer, Harry Maxim, had left the zoo due to an illness. The two died within a few months of each other.

After her death, visitors could remember Zooella thanks to a large, fiberglass elephant statue on display at the zoo into the early 1980s. The statue went to auction in 1983 and was purchased by a family in northeastern Kent County. They moved it to their plot of land along Lincoln Lake Avenue in the Gowen area, where it remained for decades until earlier this year.

Sisters Taylor, Trinity and Abi Kraal grew up in Holland but spent many summers in Gowen going to Charley’s Ice Cream on Lincoln Lake Avenue . They recalled driving past that statue for years. In 2019, the sisters decided to buy the ice cream shop and run it themselves.

Around that time, they got the idea to ask the owners to buy the statue and bring it to Charley’s. They went to the front door of the property where it stood, but didn’t get a response. They left a note saying they were interested.

“Little did we know that that note had been sitting on the refrigerator for about five years,” Taylor Kraal said. “So we got a call a couple of months ago and they finally agreed to part ways with it.”

While they finally had their elephant, it was not the statue that proudly stood at the zoo. Years of wear and tear had plagued it. The tusks were damaged and the fiberglass seams were coming apart. There was a bee’s nest inside.

So the Kraals enlisted the help of Stan’s Signs to restore it. The elephant was brought to contractor John Frueh Jr.’s backyard, where it has sat for the past few weeks while he carefully restored and pieced it together.

But it had long been a fixture in Gowen. Many wondered where it had gone.

“The funny thing is my wife works at the school in Greenville and the girls started talking to each other and she heard them say, ‘The elephant’s gone off of Lincoln Lake Road. Does anybody know what happened to the elephant?’ And she says, ‘It’s at my house,'” Frueh said.

Though the statue needed a mountain of work, Frueh was up for the challenge. He has spent years doing work with Scott’s Signs and years ago painted logos on trucks for the Grand Rapids Fire Department, where he was also a firefighter.

“It was something I was comfortable doing,” Frueh said of the statue restoration. “(But also) something new. It’s just a lot of square footage, is all. It wasn’t anything different than what I’m used to doing.”

Now, after weeks of work, the statue is set to be unveiled at its permanent new home in front of Charley’s. The Kraals will be hosting a celebration Saturday for the occasion, complete with some special menu items and plenty of photo opportunities.

The elephant the statue was inspired by may be gone and the statue itself may look different — it is now adorned with a pink Charley’s T-shirt — but the Kraals hope the spirit of Zooella lives on through the art.

“At Charley’s, we’re really big on bringing in community and family, too, and I think that was a theme when Zoella came to the zoo. She was a huge part of what brought people in there to see her exhibit. … (We) really hope that the statue continues to do the same thing that Zooella did at the zoo, but for Charley’s,” Taylor Kraal said.

The same excitement is felt by John Ball Zoo .

“The excitement around the statue goes to show that John Ball Zoo has been a treasured part of the West Michigan community for many years,” the zoo’s chief operating officer, Andy McIntyre, said in a statement released to News 8. “For more than 133 years, we have been dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and wild places, providing excellent care for over 200 species, operating sustainably and leading conservation projects locally and around the world. We deeply appreciate our community’s passion about the Zoo and our conservation mission.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WOODTV.com.