Massive 35-foot puppet scales Amway Grand as ArtPrize kicks off

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As ArtPrize officially kicked off Friday evening, crowds watched as a massive puppet climbed up the Amway Grand Plaza.

ArtPrize organizers had teased a “huge spectacle” at the ArtPrize opening ceremony, which also included a parade through the city, music, food and fireworks.

The surprise was revealed as David, a 35-foot, 200-pound puppet that scaled the Amway Grand Plaza in his United States debut. Five puppeteers controlled David as he climbed up the downtown Grand Rapids hotel Friday evening.

David was created by The Underground Circus in Vancouver around 2009. The giant marionette, made mostly with aluminum, took about six weeks to create, according to The Underground Circus’ website.

ArtPrize Director of Operations and Production Theresa Anderson helped bring the puppet to Grand Rapids, as the team wanted to bring back a spectacle to ArtPrize.

“I was tasked with finding unique and cool things to bring to the community,” she told News 8. “I used some contacts from my background and put some feelers out and found the biggest thing I could think of to bring here.”

For the last four months, the ArtPrize team worked closely with the hotel and Rockford Construction to hoist equipment to the top of the hotel from which David was strung.

Friday’s performance isn’t the only chance to check out the 35-foot puppet. Starting Monday, David will be at the parking lot of 45 Ottawa Avenue , where attendees can get the chance to “play” with him, Anderson said.

“You can sign up for a slot to go and meet David and pull on the ropes and essentially make him move and dance and just have some fun,” she said.

Anderson said she’s hoping for a big reaction from the community.

“We’re really hoping that he brings back that energy that ArtPrize is known for: Doing really big, dramatic spectacles,” she said. “I’m really hoping that we have a community response that means that people want to come out and see him.”

David will also be part of the competition’s closing ceremony on Sept. 27. Anderson teased that the team has “something pretty special planned” for his involvement in that event and he’ll be performing with a circus act.

Anderson said the team is excited for the rest of ArtPrize. She noted that Friday’s event would not have been possible without the team’s community partners: Rockford Construction, AHC Hospitality, DGRI, the city of Grand Rapids, DeVos Place and Experience GR.

“I can’t tell you how the city has got behind this and just made this happen for us. It’s been an incredible partnership with so many people and so many people want to make this work,” she said. “Every time I think about it, I get goosebumps, because they’ve just come out and put forward all of this energy to help us get this enormous puppet to climb that building. … It’s just been a really humbling experience to have those people do that for us.”

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