Happy Paul Bunyan Day! [VIDEO]

Did you know that June 28th is Paul Bunyan Day?

At 31 feet high and 3,700 pounds, the Paul Bunyan statue that greets visitors into Bangor in front of the Cross Insurance Center on Main Street was a gift to Bangor on its 125th anniversary as a city in 1959.

It was designed by J. Normand Martin and built by the Messmoor & Damon firm of New York, the mythical lumberman who, according to whom you ask, was born in the deep Maine woods near Bangor. Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Babe, traveled throughout America, creating the Grand Canyon, Puget Sound and the Black Hills.

An advertising copy writer from Westwood, California, named W.B. Laughead introduced Paul Bunyan to the general population. Bunyan was used in pamphlets from 1914 to 1944 to sell products by Red River Lumber Co. of Minnesota.

So celebrate this holiday by taking a trip down the Cross Center and saying hello to Bangor's most famous landmark!