(Seguin) – Seguin welcomes Nutty Buddy to downtown Seguin. Nutty Buddy, also known as the Guadalupe River Squirrel, has officially found his home on the southeast corner of Central Park. The squirrel is the fourth larger-than-life, fiber-glass squirrel to be unveiled as part of Seguin’s Squirrel Trail Program.
The squirrel was painted by local artist Robin Walker and commissioned by Rob McMillan and Kyle Cabe, of Lone Oak Property Tax Service. Cabe says he is very pleased of how the creative project turned out.
“Rob and I felt it was important to give something back to the community that has been so good to us. So, we thought this was a good project. It’s definitely unique and fun to be a part of it. It’s beautiful. I think Robin did a fantastic job. So (we were) like, ‘knock it out Robin, do your thing!’ and I think she did an amazing job. We are very pleased with the whole process,” said Cabe.
During the unveiling ceremony on Friday, Walker not only explained the inspiration behind the artwork but also the team effort that went into finalizing the end result.
“I kept thinking about the river, of course, and one side has a cypress tree, and the other side has a pecan tree and then I couldn’t resist, I had to do the pecan realistic because I’m in competition with the big pecan. The nice sponsors Lone Oak, they came to me at my Rotary meeting and said ‘would you like to do a squirrel?’ and I said ‘yes, absolutely’ and it took about three months to put it together, but I love it and I had so much fun doing it and then the sweet people, the new owners of (CARSTAR) Shanafelt did the coating. So it’s got three coats of really heavy automobile protection. I love it. He looks like Texas, and he looks like Seguin,” said Walker.
The city of Seguin continues to welcome squirrels one by one.
As part of the program, each of the sponsored squirrels are painted by a local artist and then permanently mounted somewhere throughout the community. Locations that have already welcomed a squirrel include Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Schertz Bank & Trust, and the Seguin Public Library.
The Seguin Squirrel Trail Program currently has approximately 10 more squirrels to be unveiled. Seguin Main Street officials say some are closer to their debut while others are still in the preliminary design phase. Those wishing to sponsor a squirrel are asked to contact the Main Street office for cost and other details. The office can be reached by calling 830- 401-2448.