It's time, troll hunters! 'Alexa's Elixir' is now open to the public (2024)

DETROIT LAKES — Are you ready for it, troll hunters?

The public art installation known as "Trolls in DL" by Danish recycled materials artist Thomas Dambo is now officially open, following the Detroit Lakes Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, June 10, at the City Park sculpture site known as "Alexa's Elixir."

Over the course of the past four weeks, nine sculptures have been installed at locations scattered around Detroit Lakes and surrounding areas, including two "mirror portals" in Fargo and Perham. A third mirror portal can be found outside Detroit Lakes' Historic Holmes Theatre, which also happens to be the home of "Trolls in DL" sponsors Project 412.

Alexa and four other giant trolls have also been erected by Dambo and his crew of 17 fellow artists, plus 400-plus local volunteers who provided assistance with various aspects of the project. The ninth sculpture in the exhibition is the most secret, with its location even being kept hidden from most of the project volunteers.

Vicki Gerdes / Detroit Lakes Tribune

The main key to finding all the trolls, and putting the clues together to locate the ninth sculpture, lies in the book that stands next to Alexa herself in the Detroit Lakes City Park.

The book was the subject of much scrutiny both before and after Monday's ribbon cutting, as troll-hunting fans looked for the clues that would lead to the location of the mysterious "bad bunny" known as the Golden Rabbit.

Project 412, which has been the main sponsor for the project, gathering together donors, volunteers, and all the materials and resources needed to make it happen, now has photos and biographies of all the trolls and portals — plus a little more information on the mysterious Golden Rabbit — up on its website at project412mn.org/trolls-dl.

According to the website, these troll sculptures (and their generalized locations) include:

• Alexa's Elixir, Detroit Lakes City Park
• Long Leif (pronounced "long life"), Detroit Mountain Recreation Area
• Barefoot Frida, Ortenstone Gardens and Sculpture Park (a new park in development at the corner of Randolph Road and County Highway 54)
• Ronny Funnyface, Dunton Locks County Park
• Jacob Everear, Wannigan Regional Park (in Frazee)

The locations of all three mirror portals can also be found at the Project 412 site, though for now, the secret of the Golden Rabbit's location is strictly under wraps.

Vicki Gerdes / Detroit Lakes Tribune

Some of the sculptures are buried a little more deeply in the north woods of Minnesota than others, as Dambo noted during a Thursday, June 6, media tour of some of the more remote sites.

Each of the troll installations Dambo has done so far has included its own fairy tale, like "Alexa's Elixir," which can be found in its entirety on the pages of Alexa's book at the City Park sculpture site.

More information can also be found on Dambo's website, trollmap.com, which provides the generalized locations for all 138 troll sculptures that the artist has completed thus far, in 17 counties and 19 of 50 United States. His eventual goal, as Dambo noted during last week's media tour, is to have at least "one (troll) in every state." Since he first started it 10 years ago, Dambo's overall project has come to be known as the "Trail of 1,000 Trolls."

Though Dambo and his crew had to move on to their next adventure prior to Monday's ribbon cutting, the Danish artist did give a short talk after work on Alexa was completed on Friday, June 7.

He and the other members of his troll-building crew, including wife Alexa and their twin sons, stayed at the park Friday night for the first installment of Project 412's weekly summer music series, Trucks and Tunes, and partied to the music of Post Traumatic Funk Syndrome.

During the show, Stearns gave a shout-out to Dambo and his fellow troll builders, which elicited a standing ovation from the crowd that filled the park for the concert. The concert series continues this Friday, June 14, with the Michael Shynes Band performing at the bandshell from 5-8 p.m. A full list of upcoming concerts and performers can be found at project412mn.org/trucks-tunes.

So what's up next for Project 412? More public art — but on a slightly smaller scale.

In conjunction with the Detroit Lakes Arts and Culture Commission (ACC), Project 412 has just put out a call for artists to participate in the city's "Art on a Stick" project, along with the addition of three more art-wrapped public power utility boxes to the "Detroit Lakes Energy" project, for which the ACC and Project 412 are also partnering with Detroit Lakes Public Utilities.

The deadline for artist submissions on both projects is this Friday, June 15. For project requirements, timeline, and submission forms, visit project412mn.org/call-for-art.

A reporter at Detroit Lakes Newspapers since relocating to the community in October 2000, Vicki was promoted to Community News Lead for the Detroit Lakes Tribune and Perham Focus on Jan. 1, 2022. She has covered pretty much every "beat" that a reporter can be assigned, from county board and city council to entertainment, crime and even sports. Born and raised in Madelia, Minnesota, she is a graduate of Hamline University, from which she earned a bachelor's degree in English literature (writing concentration). You can reach her at 218-844-1454 or vgerdes@dlnewspapers.com.