The MooseFest 2009 figures have "galloped" off to their prospective new homes, and their stolid yet festive presence in Bennington's downtown is a fading memory.

As with the previous MooseFest, in 2005, and with the J. Seward Johnson figures in 2008, area residents came to expect seeing them whenever they came downtown. It was comforting knowing those big Alces alces would be standing along the sidewalks in their individualized, decorative glory. For most, there would be a reason to smile, and for a closer look at something we hadn't noticed before.

But if most residents are missing the moose, visitors who've heard about them couldn't help but be disappointed now that they've retired. As with the previous moose herd, and the Johnson figures, the big guys and their "family" members were a source of endless fascination, especially in watching the effect they had on tourists and other visitors traveling through town.

Of course, their first reflex was to gawk and then to pull out a camera and start shooting -- even from the driver's seat.

By day, the tall figures were constantly surrounded. All anyone had to do was stand on Main Street on a warm summer day to gauge the surprised wonder they produced in thousands -- or, during evenings, to be startled repeatedly by camera flashes that imitated heat lightning.

MooseFest proved once again the power of public artwork displays to make a downtown a destination point, and a destination point a

Advertisement
must-stop zone. The greatest effect was upon the young, who, in later years, aren't likely to forget "Captain Jack Mooso" or "Circus Moose on the Loose" or other favorites and think well of Vermont and Bennington because of that.

The MooseFest 2009 moose auction didn't produce the huge bid numbers of the first event, but organizers shouldn't let that discourage them. What the statues meant to Bennington and the surrounding area was, as they say in the MasterCard ads, priceless.

So, what do we have planned for next summer?