Dinosaurs invade Broome County

The Press & Sun-Bulletin reported that roughly 100 B.C.-inspired sculptures will be created and displayed throughout Binghamton.

Patti Pomeroy slung one arm around the lengthy neck of Gronk the dinosaur, then bared her teeth in a broad grin.

"My dad always told me that Gronk's smile was my smile," said Pomeroy, daughter of the late cartoonist Johnny Hart of Nineveh.

The fiberglass sculpture of Gronk, with caveman B.C. on his back, was unveiled Friday in front of Barnes & Noble Booksellers. It's the first of up to 100 such sculptures, which will be decorated by local artists as part of the "hArt of BC" public art exhibition.

Designed by Hart's grandson Mason Mastroianni -- the current cartoonist behind the B.C. comic strip -- and made in Walton, the prototype dinosaur is still gray, awaiting an artist's hand. Artists will decorate Gronk; B.C. is already painted.

"You can tattoo B.C. if you want to -- it's all the rage," joked Mastroianni, who attended the event with his brother Mick.

Individuals, groups or businesses can sponsor a dinosaur, which costs $3,000 if the business has fewer than 100 employees or $5,000 if the company has more than 100 employees.

So far, 15 have signed up as sponsors with 10 more pending, said Alfred Lavker, treasurer of the committee behind the project. Current sponsors include Audio Classics, Behlog & Sons Produce, Lavker Enterprises, Nelson Development Group, Subway Development Co., Piaker & Lyons CPA, United Health Services and Visions Federal Credit Union.

The exhibition will start in May and last through the summer of 2010. The sculptures will be placed near the sponsoring groups, in public spaces and throughout the footprint of the First Friday Art Walk in downtown Binghamton.

At the end of the exhibition, the sculptures will be auctioned off. Proceeds will benefit Binghamton University, Tri-Cities Opera, Broome Community College, the Boys and Girls clubs of Binghamton and Western Broome, Broome County Charities and the Binghamton Philharmonic.

Among the first artists to decorate the "dinosculptures" will be Vestal resident Nancy Ryan.
"I'm an instructor at BCC, so I give assignments all the time," she said. "So it's fun when people give me one."