BOULDER — After 11 months and 1,400 work-hours were invested in re-using 3,000 pieces of farm equipment, a Boulder County-bred rooster was finally ready to fly his coop.
Alfie the rooster needed a little help, however, given that he’s a 5,000-pound, 8-foot-tall metal sculpture.
Escorted to a flatbed by a crane from Boulder’s Armor Steel, Alfie on Friday was set to make his way from the Niwot- area workshop of his creator, local artist Robert Bellows, to his new home outside Alfalfa’s Market, 1651 Broadway in Boulder. Alfie was then unveiled at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Alfalfa’s commissioned the sculpture for an undisclosed sum in the hopes of creating a new Boulder landmark that would symbolize the efforts of local farmers, said Sonja Tuitele, the grocer’s spokeswoman.
Bellows grew quite attached to the brawny bird during the past year. Thousands of hours were spent “banging and bending and twisting and heating” equipment donated and purchased from Colorado farmers.
Bellows cherished the intricate nature of the endeavor. During Alfie’s very first days, Bellows propped up two old horse-drawn plow beams and embarked on setting the eyes — ball bearings from a water valve. He worked a whole day on making them right. “When the eyes were looking at me and talking to me and saying, ‘Get out of my barnyard,’ then I started the sculpture,” he said.
