CORBIN, Ky. (AP) - A southeast Kentucky city has unveiled a statue honoring one of its most famous figures - Colonel Sanders.
The city of Corbin showed off the statue of Sanders, the founder and symbol of the fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, on Wednesday.
The image of the iconic businessman will stand outside the city’s tourism office to “attract tourists off of the interstate” and “bring people inside the welcome center to learn a little bit more about Corbin,” according to Maggy Kriebel, the executive director of the city’s tourism commission.
The pine statue, which stands beside three carved chickens, was chiseled with a chainsaw over more than 40 hours by artist duo Jerry and Kim Eaton, WKYT-TV reported.
“It was kind of scary,” Kim Eaton said. “You can carve anybody’s face but when you carve someone that everybody recognizes… There was a lot of prayers. We prayed a lot.”
Sanders had roots in Corbin, opening up Harland Sanders Café in the city in 1940 and developing what would go on to be the secret KFC recipe at the roadside restaurant, according to Kentucky’s tourism agency.
The restaurant was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
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