“Dear PoPville,
What’s happened to the pandas on yuma???
I hope they’re just in the shop for repairs!”
photo by Jennifer Wagner
I found a post on Facebook saying: “I gave my panda friend a little freshening up over the past couple of days. It’s the last time I’ll visit him at this location, he’s moving on to new owners next week. My services are grandfathered in, and I look forward to new peeps and a new spot to work. That said I’m sad to say goodbye to the current owners – for 6 years I’ve shown up twice a year to do repairs, but it felt more like catching up with old friends. I wish them well and I know Yuma Street won’t be the same without them or their pandas.”
For those unfamiliar there was a public art project in 2004 called “PandaMania” where 150 giant panda sculptures were displayed around town. After the exhibit many were acquired by private owners. We saw one for sale on Craigslist back in 2022.