'Clipped' winner's topiaries pay tribute to Minnesota hometown's Czech heritage

Bemidji has Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. North St. Paul has the giant snowman. And perhaps one day, topiary statues of Czech dancers will be synonymous with Montgomery, Minn.

On the heels of Meghan Petricka being named "Clipped" champion on the Discovery Plus HGTV landscape design show, the Minnesota artist has created topiary sculptures in the town of 3,000, south of the Twin Cities.

"It's important to honor my roots and give back to my hometown," said Petricka, who now lives in Eden Prairie.

After a fundraising campaign provided enough money for two sculptures, Petricka decided to create a pair of dancers in traditional folk costumes to give a nod to Montgomery's strong Czech tradition. The final topiary was completed just in time for Kolacky Days, the town's annual Czech-themed festival underway this weekend.

The making of the sculptures took plenty of skill, not to mention an abundance of materials. In total, Petricka used 300 pounds of steel to weld the frames for the dancers. To that, she added 6,000 artificial flowers, preserved moss, birch bark and natural jute to complete the topiary pieces.

"The female dancer is wearing the traditional kroj — a red skirt, apron, cummerbund, floral crown and boots," Petricka said. "The male dancer will wear dark pants, a red vest, hat, boots and will be playing a concertina."

Because the topiaries were meant to last a long time, they were made with artificial flowers "that won't require any maintenance — no watering, no pruning and they can dance around the community," said Petricka.

Travel buddies

During Kolacky Days, the topiaries are slated to hop around town, including a stop at Revival on Main (a community gathering and entertainment space), the Montgomery Arts and Heritage Center and Memorial Park. The dancers eventually will make their way to a central location in town. The dancers, which were built on steel metal plates with wheels for easy transport, are anticipated to do some traveling.

"Most of the time they're going to be at the Arts and Heritage Center, so they can have a home base," said Kathy Peterson of the center's board of directors. "Then we can take them to other events in the community when they are requested."

The timing of the topiary art installation couldn't be better. The city and its residents recently worked with the state to designate the downtown as a historic district. It's part of a plan to ramp up promoting Montgomery as a destination.

"There are approximately 32 buildings on Main Street that were contributing assets to that historical district. So the fact that Meghan is doing work to build on that has been wonderful," said Julie Bifano, cofounder of Revival on Main and the Rustic Farmer event space. "We want to promote Montgomery as a destination that's a short drive from the Twin Cities."