Resident Miles Yeary on June 16 pitched Steelville Forward’s “Happy the Troll” vision for Hoppe Spring Park and the Spring Street Bridge to the board of aldermen.

Yeary shared his six steps for the park.

• Create parking along Yadkin Creek for canoe sculpture.

• Close bridge to cars, cover it in wood and open on sides with flower boxes.

• Improve landscaping to open the view of Hoppe Spring Park.

• Replace chainlink fence to create a more appealing entrance and placard with park history.

• Add a duck food dispenser similar to the trout feeding dispenser at Maramec Spring Park.

• Install “Happy The Troll” above or by spring.

Thomas Dambo, a Danish architect, began the troll sculpture phenomenon by making them out of recycled pallets. Yeary said that Steelville Forward would like to implement one of Dambo’s sculptures and they decided to name it “Happy the Troll.”

Yeary said that Dambo would like to have one sculpture in every U.S. state and that Dambo has 250 trolls worldwide. Dambo currently has troll sculptures in 19 states, but Missouri does not have a Dambo display.

“Families are planning their whole vacations to go see the trolls,” said Yeary. “We often talk about what we can do to bring more people to Steelville for whatever reason. This feels like a destination thing.”

Yeary said Hoppe Spring Park is an underutilized asset for the community to bring visitors in.

“It’s a beautiful park back there and people don’t even notice,” said Yeary.

Now that the Spring Street Bridge has been closed to the public Yeary suggested covering it in wood.

“Pedestrian only covered in wood, lighted up. We could have the melon sellers from Main Street set up their melon stands in the summer. We could have a farm to table dinner,” said Yeary.

He said he would like to see the chain link fence removed from the park.

Public Works Director Jason Evans asked about Yeary’s opinion on the chain link fence.

“You don’t like that?” asked Evans.

“The six foot chainlink prison fence? No. I do not think that is welcoming,” said Yeary. “I understand that there needs to be a safety thing for children.”

Mayor Duanne DeRennaux said the city is addressing the fence.

Yeary said it would be more visually appealing to remove the fence.

Yeary asked Colin Cottrell, owner of properties located near the canoe sculpture if he was okay to allow parking on his property by the canoes.

“We’ve got private land there of course by the canoes,” said DeRennaux. “You have to either lease or purchase (it).”

Yeary said Cottrell is willing to take action to help Yeary’s vision move forward.

DeRennaux asked if Dairy Isle was on board with his ideas.

“They are so excited about it,” said Yeary.

Yeary shared marketing ideas with the board about Happy the Troll’s namesake.

Yeary’s slogans were “Steelville-where happy is,” “C’mon get happy,” “Looking for Happy? Go to Steelville” and “Happy is always in Steelville.”

He suggested creating a “Happy Days” event with live music, produce and art booths.

“Thank you Miles for your vision. It’s good to have people in our town to have visions. It’s a lot of discussion to be had,” said DeRennaux.

“Absolutely,” said Yeary. “I’m going to continue to pursue it. I’ll meet with Colin and talk to anybody about raising money. I think the community can pull this off.”

The next board meeting will be at 6 p.m. on July 7 at City Hall.