After a proposal to add Babe statue to the existing Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor was shot down in February of this year,  a group has come forward with a new proposal 

A group of citizens calling themselves Build Babe in Bangor approached the City Council’s Government Operations Committee on Monday with details of planned fundraising campaign for the statue. Members of Build Babe in Bangor said they expect the original designer of the Paul Bunyan statue, J. Normand Martin, 89, to complete his clay model of Babe in July or possibly as late as August.

The first proposal in February asked for a $1,000 grant for Martin to create a clay sculpture of Babe. This was later amended to ask for $550, the council settled on $160 grant for materials which failed in a 4-4 vote. In July, the commission will not consider whether the city should approve the project on public land instead of a grant.

The second proposal comes after a battle of the Bunyans in which Bemidji, Minnesota, also the home of a Paul Bunyan statue, called out Bangor in their local paper. The reports claim Bemidji's Bunyan is better because it has a Babe statue as well. Bangor is not going to take that without a fight!

The cost of the statue and fundraising efforts will be determined after the proposal is approved. The group proposed unveiling the finished statue on July 4, 2016.

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