The 2006 Sculpture Trail at Lyons is now open and runs until October 2006. Following and growing from last year's success the trail has expanded from 15 artists displaying 25 sculptures to 43 artists displaying 58 sculptures. The trail is free and open to everyone.

The trail starts from the northern part of Lyons marked by a giant carrot on the corner of Fifth Avenue and High Street. From there, visitors can spend on hour or two on the trail as it meanders through the town. One of the first sculptures encountered is "The Egg Cage and The Guardian" -- a very important part of the trail. A large lizard guards a cage which contains special water-polished stones. Each visitor has to reach past "Trailzilla" and open the cage to take their own stone which will be their token to be used at the end of the trail, a huge sandstone egg built by Raul Vasquez. Here hikers can place their stone token amongst the others laid by other trail travelers. By the end of the season in October there should be a wide mosaic of the water stones surrounding the egg. This mosaic will take on a life of its own determined by the collective spirit of the trail walkers.

This spirit of interactivity and involvement permeates the spirit of the trail-meisters lead by John King, the founder and chief evangelist for the trail. The sculpture trail is about story-telling, solving riddles, enjoying whacky and whimsical pieces that break the mould of stuffy art in museums. This is not your father's art show, there will be people laughing and having fun and enjoying all the art pieces while taking an extended stroll through the lovely town of Lyons.

The trail is completely free to visit but visitors should get the $2 Guidebook which helps to pay for some administrative costs and just a small fraction of the hundreds of dollars that many of the artists spend on materials for their pieces. The guidebook adds an extra dimension to the trail with maps, directions, descriptions, stories and riddles about the pieces that you can see on the trail. It is available at many of the shops and restaurants around the town.

The web site for the trail is sculpturetrail.com.

As the sculpture trail posters say, Walk, gawk and squawk!