The Bay Area Historical Society

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Dear Ms Davis - I just saw your segment on WCCO concerning my "Rocky". It is nice to know he is gaining such world-wide publicity. I was a practicing dentist in Silver Bay from 1959-1973 and when I was President of the Silver Bay Chamber of Commerce in 1960, I realized that although the North Shore was one of the most popular tourist routes in Minnesota, very few made the left hand turn to visit Silver Bay. I came up with the idea of "Rocky", carved him in clay and cast the original using the casting equipment in my dental office. My entire family went to work producing replicas - my mother-in-law- was the boss and she had her four grandkids (my kids), producing the bobble-head. She installed the spring, one of my kids painted the black body, another painted the red gloves & boots, another painted the silver eyes & hat, while another pasted a little history of taconite on the bottom of the base. We sold the little dolls in Zup's Grocery, Malmo Drug, the Silver Platter and other stores in the shopping center. The first dolls sold for $1 - the store got half and the Chamber got the other half! I still have the very first bobble-head we made 57 years ago and I will send you a photo. Now you know the rest of the story!