A NSW country town has united behind vandals who decorated its Big Potato with a giant face — after the face was torn down and destroyed less than a day later.
Residents in Robertson, a town in the NSW Southern Highlands famous for potato growing, woke up on Saturday morning to find a set of giant paper mache eyes, nose and mouth adorning the town’s famous 10m-by-4m concrete landmark.
The sudden spectacle amused many passersby who stopped their cars and took photographs, but the fun ended when vandals tore it down the very next night.
Now one of the vandals who created the face claims the makeover was so popular that many locals would like to see it return and become a permanent fixture.
"We intentionally put it up on Saturday because that is the busiest day for the area," he told ninemsn.
"We’ve had lots of locals, tourists and even the chamber of commerce ask about it — it’s a good piece of publicity."
The man, who did not want to be named, said the group was being encouraged to recreate the face for display once more.
He said he and his fellow artists created the paper mache features over a few weekends at a cost of about $200.
It took only about 15 minutes shortly after 3am on Saturday to hang the three sections on the potato, he said.
The man said he did not really feel anger towards to people who tore the face down.
"If anything, it [the publicity] has been a blessing in disguise," he said.
The face even sparked chatter online, where one blogger wrote: "I welcome the ‘face-changing’ fun demonstrated overnight in Robertson."
Another wrote: "Someone had fun!"
The Big Potato, also known as the "Big Turd", was installed by local farmer Jim Mauger in 1977.
His wife Gwen told ninemsn the Big Potato had been targeted with graffiti often over the years, but this time she didn’t mind so much.
"It didn’t worry us — it could have been a lot worse," she said.
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