The Wonders of The Weevil

Farmer Bo Weevil

Our First stop was at the Farmer’s market to see one farmer in particular.

Cassie Peacock, Rachel Lesh, Jayla Dawkins, Tori Young

Artsy Weevil

Our second stop on our scavenger hunt was at All About Art in downtown Enterprise.

Rachel Lesh, Cassie Peacock, Ashley Jones, Tori Young

Mayor Weevil

Then we had to go over to city hall and see what our weevil mayor was up to on such a rainy afternoon.

Ashley Jones, Tori Young, Jayla Dawkins, Cassie Peacock

William "Bo" Weevil

Stopping by our alma mater was a must because we had to show our weevil pride.

Rachel Lesh, Tori Young, Jayla Dawkins, Ashley Jones, Cassie Peacock

Home-er Weevil

One of our last stops during this afternoon-long scavenger hunt was with our friends over at Re/Max Premier Realty to check out these weevil homes.

Jayla Dawkins, Cassie Peacock, Ashley Jones, Rachel Lesh

I am from the small southern town of Enterprise, Alabama, where you can experience all four seasons in one day and see families form and divide based on the ending score of a football game. Born and raised in this small Wiregrass area, I, like many others, take pride in our small-town traditions and annual events such as the Christmas Parade and the Peanut Festival. 

If you have ever been to the Enterprise area or at the very least heard of it, then you must have heard of our proud Boll Weevil Monument featured in the center of downtown. If you are unfamiliar with the Boll Weevil Monument, it is the first and only monument in honor of a bug. The boll weevil insect is honored in Enterprise for saving its agricultural crop during a dry season for cotton one harvest. That same year the town’s farmers decided to convert the area to peanut farming which paid off debts and saved the city forever. In 1918 a year later, the Boll Weevil Monument was erected in honor and appreciation of the insect that saved the coffee county crop.

Several years later, Enterprise is at it again, but this time the weevils have grown and multiplied. Roughly two years ago, the Enterprise Chamber of Commerce worked together with the Wiregrass Economic Development Corporation and the City of Enterprise Tourism Department to create life-sized boll weevils to be placed around the city. 

Starting with weevils that represent the City of Enterprise, the Enterprise Police Department, the Enterprise Fire Department, and the Enterprise Farmers Market, the city council, in request from local businesses, started placing the weevil bugs all over Enterprise. Each weevil is uniquely dressed according to the business it represents. 

Having become a fun, collaborative community art project called WeevilWay, these bugs have grown and flourished into a popular tourist attraction and a way to promote local businesses along with town pride. 

The images above are of my friends and me from home taking fun pictures with a few of the Weevils. I wanted to share these today, and this short story to bring attention to how art can bring people together no matter what the piece is or whether or not the people involved are artists or not; all can appreciate art!