Happy Paul Bunyan Day! [VIDEO]

Did you know that today, June 28 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, 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.

In an open lot on Central Street downtown, next to Epic Sports, and across the street from 11 Central, a very cool a portrait of the iconic Paul Bunyan, created by local artist, Annette Sohns-Dodd, is the talk of Downtown Bangor.

There have been comedy bits, cartoons, a burger eating challenge, and many, many other tributes to the big fella. When driving or walking by it, I always see people posing near the statue for pictures.

So celebrate Paul Bunyan Day, by taking a trip down to the Cross Center and saying hello to Bangor's most famous landmark, except since we will hit 90 degrees today and tomorrow, with a heat index heading into the upper 90s maybe wait a couple of days.

He isn't going anywhere.