Lagoon Gets Lion's Share of eBay Auction

In a rather odd news item, it seems Lagoon has purchased three concrete lion statues which used to stand at the entrance to the Utah State Capitol building. The statues, four in all, were put up for auction on eBay by the Utah Capitol Preservation Board earlier this month. By the time the auction closed on Thursday, Lagoon had managed to secure three of them but was outbid by a Salt Lake City resident on the fourth. The prices ranged from $4000 to $8100 per lion.

According to Dick Andrew, Lagoon's Vice President of Marketing, it is unknown when these creatures will come roaring into the park, or in what capacity they will serve. In fact, Andrew told the Standard-Examiner that the park has no clue what it will do with them! To make matters even stranger, the reason the statues were put up for auction in the first place is because their deteriorating condition was deemed to be beyond restoration.

It strikes me as more than a little odd that a park would invest that much money in statues, not to mention the additional costs of moving (they weigh approximately six tons each!) and restoring them, without having a clear plan for how they might be used. In my mind, this is one to watch. If nothing else, these lions will certainly make for some interesting future theming!