In 1989, teacher Gary Greff returned to his shrinking North Dakota hometown and learned to weld; his plan to lure travelers became a 32-mile highway of giant sculptures, including a Guinness world record
On a stretch of North Dakota highway where golden fields meet an endless prairie sky, a giant metal knight stands guard over a castle, protecting it from a fire-breathing dragon. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, but in Regent these giant figures are part of a very real roadside attraction that grew from one man’s desire to put a fading hometown on the map. For more than 30 years, former teacher and school principal Gary Greff has been using scrap metal to create gigantic works of art along the Enchanted Highway, one of the more unusual attractions in southwestern North Dakota. After a career in education, Greff returned to his hometown of Regent in 1989. He didn’t go down the expected path. Instead, he focused on a crazy idea: Using giant sculptures to draw travelers off Interstate 94 and into his struggling community. He’d never welded before. He learned the skill from local farmers, and his first major work, the Tin Family, was installed two years later in 1991. The concept was simple, but ambitious: travelers could be persuaded to make a detour for something truly exceptional, while they might just drive past a typical small town. The experiment finally blossomed into the Enchanted Highway, a 32-mile stretch from Exit 72 on I-94 to Regent with giant scrap-metal sculptures along the way.
Huge sculptures in the prairies
There are now eight sculpture scenes along the highway, including giant grasshoppers, a massive fisherman-themed creation and the Tin Family. One of the most notable is Geese in Flight, completed in August 2001 by Greff. It stands 110 feet high, 154 feet wide, and weighs 157,659 pounds. It earned a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest scrap-metal sculpture in 2002. Greff’s latest project of 2024 took the fantasy theme to another level.
A knight, a dragon and a breathing spectacle
Sir Albert is a giant armored knight, 41 feet tall, built to guard the Enchanted Castle in Regent. His opponent is a 42-foot-tall green dragon, 100 feet from nose to tail. The sculptures were completed after nine years of work. This pair is meant to interact with visitors, as opposed to the earlier static creations along the highway. The dragon breathes fire, makes smoke and lets out a battle cry. The knight shall answer in the setting of an animated story about a peasant, a magic potion and a heroic battle.
Creating a future for the highway
Now 75, Greff has no plans to stop creating. Concrete mixer tanks are being converted into gigantic spider bodies, and already a 70-foot spiderweb is being spun behind the Enchanted Castle, states an online report.
Now 75, Greff has no plans to stop creating. Concrete mixer tanks are being converted into gigantic spider bodies, and already a 70-foot spiderweb is being spun behind the Enchanted Castle, states an online report. Meanwhile, the Friends of the Enchanted Highway Foundation have been working to make sure the sculptures live on after Greff’s lifetime. Maintaining the existing attractions costs about $70,000 a year, the foundation is seeking grants, corporate sponsorships, donations and an endowment to establish a sustainable source of funding. The group hopes to recruit welders, volunteers and develop ideas for an interpretive center that traces Greff’s story.
From a struggling town to a rest stop
Over the years the highway has become a major thoroughfare, bringing visitors that might otherwise have driven through the region without stopping. Nestled among wheat fields and sunflower fields, the Enchanted Highway has become more than just a series of giant sculptures. It’s the culmination of Greff’s decades-long bid to turn imagination into economic opportunity, and to ensure a small town in North Dakota remains anything but forgotten.Images Courtesy: North Dakota Living and Enchanted Highway
