Going on a Troll Hunt

It all started with Big Rusty. Thomas Danbo, creator of Big Rusty is a Danish "recycle art activist" who is known for his installations of giant monumental wooden sculptures called trolls, made entirely out of recycled materials. The trolls are installed in various locations in 17 countries. You can check out the map.

Thomas Dambo created "Big Rusty," a gigantic troll sculpture in Hainesport, NJ in 2023, from recycled materials found at the site of a former ceramic factory. Dambo built Rusty on-site, using the factory's discarded metal, wood, and concrete, he wants to promote recycling and environmental awareness by transforming trash into public art. 

Troll Trek was created to honor and thank Thomas Dambo for selecting Burlington County as the home of one of his famous trolls,” said Burlington County Commissioner Director Felicia Hopson. “To do that, we decided to bring Big Rusty some troll friends. Now that they have arrived, we hope residents will visit each of them and marvel at the creativity of these artists. We also hope the trolls make people think more about protecting our natural environment and reimagine what we toss out as trash.”

The new trolls were made by 16 artists and teams of artists selected from dozens of submissions made in response to a Burlington County Parks System prospectus. Each artist or team was awarded a $500 stipend to help cover the cost of materials and installation expenses. For more information you can check out Burlington County's website.

Shall we begin?

I was under the assumption that the trolls would be all hanging around near-ish to each other.. thankfully I mapped them out in advance and turned out they were quite far from each other and this was going to take longer than a couple of hours. So we started early. Once we were near we stopped at Bordentown Bagels and grabbed a few along with coffee.. they were very very good. 

and then we were off to visit our first troll. 

Meet Edward and and his trollmate Iris can be found in Bordentown and were created by Created by John Canon. Exact address can be found on the county website.

Say hello to Rily the Abilities Troll in Burlington, created by Julie Deluccy. He was created to support the mission of Resources for Independent Living (RIL), an organization that empowers people with disabilities.

Meet Visser a Dutch fisherman who loves sunsets over the water and listening to bird songs. Visser was created by Peter Bieling.

Next up was Hagatha created by Jason Miller. We saw her from afar, there was construction taking place and a one way road and no offence but she didn't look all that so we do not have a picture of her.

This creepy dude is Noelle created by Marc Tous, Fred Poinsett and Steven Thorpe.

Flora was created by daughter and dad duo Carmen and Eduardo Jimenez. Eduardo has an Instagram page where you can see more of his upcycled art.

Melinda, Melinda.. how hard we tired but you could not be found. Melinda was created by Jennifer Hildebrand. She was supposed to be in Country Village Playground but we could not find this playground. We found two other playgrounds but no Melinda. We asked a local lady walking her dog as well a landscaper blowing leaves and funnily enough not only had they never heard of Melinda or the mentioned playground.. they had no idea there were trolls hidden amongst them. Sometimes you just don't know what's happening in your own neighborhood.

And then it was time to meet the troll that started it all.. Big Rusty. He was located up a sketchy dirt road that we weren't sure we were even supposed to be on.. but just a few seconds in and there was a large parking lot and an abandoned factory covered in graffiti. It was a vibe for sure. 

Next up was Woody created by Jason Brown located in the Rancocas Nature Center.

We had to take a little walk to get to him.. 

and the there he was on him lonesome made by the forrest around him.. strumming his banjo playing sweet melodies for the birds and the squirrels.

 

Are you ready to meet this sweetie? Pipsqueak, created by Maya Sorhage is a young, friendly troll who is a bit shy. He wanders around with his flower walking stick and he uses ladybug wings like a cape of armor.

Weft was created by Cassie Jones. There was a bit of a confusion as to which High School he was located in. Thankfully this time someone did know of his existence and pointed us in the right direction. According to the artist as mentioned on her Instagram account.. link above! "Weft being made of exposed wool his life won’t stop as it is. He will allow birds and creatures to take wool from him to use in their own nests, assisting the local fauna. He will retain large amounts of water in times of rain and become a place for plants to grow, assisting the local flora."

Retlaw in Mount Holly was created by Julie Park and Adam Pietras.

It was amazing to see how creatively so many artists used their recycled materials. How awesome is Retlaw's beard! 

Unfortunately the next one.. Bucket Head Bobby created by Lowell Doerr. We followed the GPS location and parked exactly where he was supposed to be. Could not find him. We went in every which direction. A blog mentioned he was on a different street so we walked up and down that street and still no sight of Bobby. It was when we were ready to give up that I spotted him, hidden by overgrowth. Maybe he would be easier to find in winter or fall but the amount of time we spent looking for him.. this was a massive letdown. 

Gracie the Garden Troll was created by Norma and John Neimeister. and she is as pretty as can be sitting on a bench in Historic Smithville. 

Gracie was not the only troll in Historic Smithville. Troll on a Stroll created by KT Carney was nearby.

One troll was damaged during a storm so was no longer viewable and unfortunately we had to skip Sally McScraps as she was too out of the way for us. 

So we had two trolls left on the list.. 

Here is Tommy the Tetanus Troll, he is a forest troll and an environmental advocate. He is guarding his nearby Troll Hole where he resides. 

 

Tommy is located in Arney's Mount Park and created by Marc Tous, Fred Poinsett and Steven Thorpe. We had to walk a couple of minutes on a trail to find him.

Last is Kevin, located in Juliustown Park and created by Meg and Miles Simon.

And so comes to an end our troll hunt. Hope you enjoyed it. 

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