Wilmington's Gemini Giant-- Part 4: Now Only About 200 survive

In general, Joel Baker says there have been ebbs and flows with the statues popularity.  Largely due to a negative sentiment  toward the statues that popped up during Lady Bird Johnson's Beautification Project, they fell out of favor by the 1980s.

But, a decade later, their resurgence began, a trend that has continued.

"Towns want the giants back, and they want neon back," he said.  "They want all that nostalgia from the 60's back that people were working so hard to get rid of-- now we all love it."

At their peak in the 1960s and early 1970s, there were as many as 500 across the country Baker said. Only about 200 are left today, including 10 or so in Illinois, making them a hot commodity for private collectors.

--RoadDog