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‘We Can Do It!’

Rosie the Riveter likeness revealed

ELKINS -- The Emma Scott Garden Club unveiled a replica of the Rosie the Riveter Statue that will someday stand in Elkins Veterans Memorial Park during Thursday's Randolph County Commission meeting.

Before the official start of the meeting, ESGC President Linda Shomo addressed the commission and unpackaged the replica, along with former City of Elkins Mayor Judy Guye, who is also a member of the ESGC. It was then shown to each commissioner and passed around to those in attendance.

"I want to thank the county commission for standing behind our project. We appreciate all your support and all your help," said Shomo. "This is a historic moment because this will be the first Rosie the Riveter statue in the United States for a garden club. This replica is being seen by the public for the first time today… We are hoping other garden clubs throughout the nation will follow us, so that we won't be the first."

The finished statue will be 8 feet tall and will be designed by Big Statues out of Provo, Utah. The original price tag for the historic piece is $67,000. Earlier this year the Randolph County Commission provided $35,000 to the project.

"This statue we have here today is a replica of the 8-foot one that will be coming," said Shomo. "There will be clues hidden all the way through the statue of the history of the Rosies, so they will never be forgotten. All the names of the West Virginia Rosies will be on the base."

Shomo said the real statue will be finely detailed, and once the remaining money is raised for the project, it will be delivered within six months.

"We still have $23,000 we need to raise and then we will order the 8-foot Rosie," said Shomo. "Once we get all the money in, it will take us about six months to get it here. So the sooner we can make the money, the sooner we can start. It would be nice to put her in the field sometime this spring."

Randolph County Commission President David Kesling applauded the Garden Club's effort and said the commission was willing to help with more funding in the future.

"We are very happy to be a partner with this project," said Kesling. "We are looking to help further down the road. We will try and help out any way that we can."

Shomo noted that local businessman Mike Ross has put out a challenge for $1,000, seeking others to match his donation that will go toward raising the remaining funds needed for the statue.

"I would like to congratulate all of you on this project," said Commissioner Cris Siler. "You all have put a lot of work and time into this, and it shows."

Beginning today, the replica statue will be in the window of the Elkins Sewing Center on the corner of Davis Avenue and Third Street,

Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of World War II that represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war. Any woman who received pay for any essential work during WWII is considered a Rosie.

For more information or to make a donation to the project, call the ESGC at 304-614-3079.