There’s a big, painted stone frog on Waynesville Hill just off old Route 66 in Wayneville, Mo. It’s been a local landmark for years, and its name is W.H. Croaker.
According to the Waynesville Frog Fest site, this is how the frog was created:
You see, several years ago the Missouri Department of Transportation was widening the roadway into Waynesville and it was necessary to do a lot of blasting to the mountainside and when they were done it left an outcropping of rock that many said looked like a very familiar shape. Well the ladies at Waynesville City Hall (Barbara Stinson, Toni Wright & Sheila Debo) decided to do something with the outcropping and called Phil Nelson, the operator of Blue Rose Tattoo, who shaped and painted the rock into the likeness of a frog, me, W.H. Croaker. The ladies were interested in starting an annual event that was set in the cool springtime and with the new rock frog on the hill they made that the theme. Now with many more members to the committee it is growing into a grand event, so hop on down and have a good time.
A postcard of W.H. Croaker can be seen here.
Today, the Waynesville Daily Guide reports that a similar-looking frog could be part of a water slide at the town’s upcoming water park, which would replace the closed city pool. The story includes an artist’s rendering of the water park, with the big frog.
Although plans for the water park aren’t final, Park Board Chairman Roger Olney says the frog idea is a popular one.
“Everybody on the park board kind of liked the big frog slide in keeping with the frog theme and the frog on the hill,” Olney said.
The frog concept would run about $50,000 with a total cost of about $150,000 for the full splash park, Olney said.
The park is looking at a water park instead of another pool because it’s much less expensive. A full pool, Olney said, would cost $1 million to $1.5 million.
The current pool closed because of structural problems.