By Gray Chapman
If you’ve walked or driven down Sydney Street between Broyles and Grant Streets, you’ve probably spotted one of Grant Park’s most colorful and beloved residents: a towering and wide-eyed figure, bejeweled in a rainbow of glass, tile, and shells.
Nearly twenty years ago, the children at Grant Park Cooperative Preschool dreamed up a mythical creature living beneath their feet – a “Mud Monster” lurking in the storm drain near the Milledge Fountain. That seed of an idea blossomed into a rich and treasured tradition.
The Mud Monster may have begun in the children’s imaginations, but it didn’t take long for the children and the school to bring him to life. Over two years, the children cooperatively gathered inspiration, sketched, crafted with papier-mâché, practiced mosaic, and selected the Mud Monster’s final design. Children, educators, and parents alike came together for the construction of the eight-foot-tall statue, using clay to build the Mud Monster’s body and colorful glass and stones. “It took a long time and lots of little hands, and lots of big parent hands helping,” recalls Grant Park resident Jami Sieder, whose daughter Colette was part of the effort.
“With the kids not having really much distinction between real and make believe, it was this magical line that was blurry,” Sieder says. “We all kind of leaned into that, and just made as much magic with it as we could.”
After the last mosaic tile was placed, the Mud Monster was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the front doors of GPCP. But his story didn’t end there. Shortly after his unveiling, the Mud Monster abruptly went missing. In true community spirit, families and teachers rallied together to help find him and bring him home.
Parents fanned out into the neighborhood to search for him. The children staged a rally and march. Sieder’s husband even designed a “Don’t Stop Believing” T-shirt to help spread the word.
The community never did stop believing, and when the Mud Monster was finally located and returned to the school, it was “like Santa had come to town,” Sieder recalls. The school threw him a homecoming parade.
Sieder sees the tale as a testament to “the amount of curiosity the GPCP educators encourage in the kids, to not just look at anything as a single event, but to really dig deep into all the connections it can bring.”
This spring, the Mud Monster will be feted once again. The school community will raise a glass to him on May 10 at the Goat Farm Arts Center in West Midtown for their annual fundraising auction, which will honor the Mud Monster’s legacy and lore. All are welcome (tickets are available at www.gpcp.org).
As Grant Park Co-Op celebrates its 25th anniversary, the Mud Monster stands tall outside its doors as a symbol of the imagination, resilience, and collaboration that have shaped this special place over the years.
Like the children who first imagined him, those who built him, and those who today can’t walk past without giving him a hug, he reminds us that learning is an adventure – one best shared with others.
