Pelicans in Paradise
Pelicans in Paradise is a public art project organized by the Pensacola News Journal in which pelican statues of reinforced fiberglass are decorated by various artists, selected by the statues' sponsors, and placed at various outdoor locations around the downtown Pensacola area.
Pelicans in Paradise was inspired by the similar CowParade project, which Pensacola News Journal president & publisher Denise Ivey witnessed during a 2002 trip to Portland, Oregon. Each fiberglass pelican is nearly 5 feet tall and weighs about 70 pounds; each pelican sits on a 48 inch by 40 inch, 450-pound cement "perch."
A total of 41 pelicans have been commissioned for the project: the initial project included twenty-one pelicans launched between June 23-July 2, 2004, followed by a "Second Flight" between November 15-19, and five more in Spring 2005. One remains unfinished. On May 9, 2005, the pelicans began to be removed, cleaned and returned to their owners/sponsors. Many have remained in the same place.
All pelican designs have been reproduced in the form of scale replicas, which are available for purchase from the Pensacola News Journal. Other Pelicans in Paradise products include T-shirts, posters and magnets. All proceeds from sponsorship and merchandise go to benefit the News Journal's Newspapers in Education literacy program.
iP8Hxe Kewl you should come up with that. Excellent!
Pelican locations
Initially located in close proximity to each other in the downtown area, the Pelican statues were returned to the original sponsors or sold to the highest bidder after the program's end in 2005. Sadly, some were vandalized or stolen and will never be relocated. The map below is imported from a Google Maps project by User:RenegadeSith.
- Map incomplete. Any user who is interested in contributing to this map is strongly urged to contact the map author.
<googlemap version="0.9" lat="30.420848" lon="-87.237625" zoom="11" height="500" width="100%"> http://www.pensapedia.com/mediawiki/files/pelicans.kml </googlemap>
Original Pelican Locations (map inaccurate)
Finding the pelicans became a popular scavenger hunt during the program's run. Incomplete map below. See also: Pelican Map and PDF <googlemap lat="30.412928" lon="-87.215223" type="map" zoom="16" width="650">
30.411728, -87.21252,
 | Five Flags 101 E Romana St |
30.41167, -87.212978,
 | "Press"ton 101 E Romana Street |
30.411605, -87.213426,
 | Peg Leg Pete 101 E Romana Street |
30.411529, -87.213829,
 | Spirit Catcher 101 E Romana Street |
30.413139, -87.214172,
 | Buck 101 E Romana Street |
30.412986, -87.215167,
 | Pensacola is a Paradise Intersection of Garden and Palafox (east) |
30.412887, -87.215738,
 | Blue Angels 1 Intersection of Garden and Palafox (west) |
30.412614, -87.215116,
 | Patriotic Pappy Palafox south of Garden |
30.411911, -87.214987,
 | Pelican Blues 40 S Palafox Street |
30.410578, -87.21473,
 | Patriot 100 block S Palafox Street |
30.409116, -87.214344,
| Pelican Brief(s) Northwest corner of Plaza Ferdinand VII |
30.408487, -87.214172,
 | The Godfeather Southwest corner of Plaza Ferdinand VII |
30.409209, -87.213786,
 | Segrado Pelicano Northeast corner of Plaza Ferdinand VII |
30.409431, -87.214837,
 | Azalican Old County Courthouse, intersection of Government and Palafox |
30.415112, -87.219021,
 | Dewey D. Pelican Downtown Library, intersection of Wright and Spring |
30.412207, -87.215416,
 | Emerald Coast Palafox south of Garden |
30.416315, -87.216275,
 | Peli-Queen Elizabeak I N Palafox Street median (westside) |
30.416352, -87.216082,
 | El Perdido Pelicano N Palafox Street median (eastside) |
30.415649, -87.215974,
 | Perdi Pelican N Palafox Street median (eastside) |
30.41563, -87.216125,
 | Smilin' Psychedelican N Palafox Street median (westside) |
</googlemap>
