Ken Nyberg, the creator of the huge, whimsical sculptures found throughout Vining and Otter Tail County, was born and raised in the area. As as adult, Ken worked as a foreman for Volden Construction, traveling across the U.S. building grain elevators. His metal sculptures first appeared in the 1980's. There were made from scrap metal just for fun. The Big Foot appeared in 1991, becoming the identifying landmark for the town of Vining. In 1999, after 43 years in construction, Ken retired. He now devotes much of his time creating his sculptures. Ken lives on East Battle Lake with his wife, Phyllis, who is the retired Vining postmaster. The have six children, including Karen Nyberg, the NASA astronaut who traveled to the International Space Station in both 2008 on Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-124, and again in 2013 on a Soyuz rocket, TMA-09m. Visitors are welcome to visit Ken's studio, located one mile north of Vining on 457th Avenue. There is a bonus cache! https://coord.info/GC95AG7
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