'Big Peanut' returns to Georgia highway five years after hurricane destruction

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A monument known as the "Big Peanut" is back alongside a Georgia highway, nearly five years after the original one was destroyed during Hurricane Michael in 2018. 

The "Big Peanut" was installed on June 12, 2023, said a GoFundMe page to rebuild the original — and was dedicated on July 20, noted the Associated Press. 

While the original structure was built out of fiberglass, the new "Big Peanut" is made of sheet metal, something its creators hope will make the monument more durable against future weather events. 

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The original peanut was erected in 1975, and is located near the town of Ashburn, Georgia. Ashburn is a small town of 9,000, with a large farming presence.

"I think it represents home," said Ashley Miller, the executive director of the Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce, told the Associated Press. "I know it’s a small town, but when you say, ‘Have you seen the peanut?’ That’s me."

Cole Sercer of Sercer Machine & Fabrication stands beside the Big Peanut that he and his employees designed and built near Ashburn, Georgia.  (Joy Crosby/Georgia Peanut Commission via AP)

The Ashburn-Turner County Chamber of Commerce raised almost $80,000 to rebuild the giant peanut statue. 

The funds came from both the Georgia Department of Agriculture and from donations from residents of Turner County, the AP noted.

A GoFundMe page started in October 2018 stressed the importance of the Big Peanut statue on the area.

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"Any time a native Turner Countian is traveling away from home and tries to explain where they’re from, a go-to option is to say, ‘I’m from the town with the big peanut,’" wrote fundraiser organizer Sarah Mastrario Cook. 

"The Ashburn peanut monument is a reminder of all of the hard-working farmers (peanut farmers especially but really all of them) that work in acres and not hours to feed our world. Please help us repair this important roadside site," she said. 

The "Big Peanut" monument made a triumphant return nearly five years after a hurricane destroyed it in 2018.  (Google Maps)

Georgia produces about half of the peanuts in the United States, the Georgia Peanut Commission's website indicates. 

The giant peanut is "a symbol of pride in the heart of south Georgia's peanut belt, as well as an enticement for tourists to pull off the highway in the small town of Ashburn," said the Associated Press.

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Cole Sercer, a Rebecca, Georgia, man who was hired to rebuild the peanut, told the AP that the new statue is similar in looks to the original, but with some key differences. 

"It's made differently, with a metal pole and frame inside and dozens of custom-worked sheet metal panels forming the curvy shell of the nut," he said.

Georgia produces roughly 50% of the peanuts in the United States.  (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The peanut is painted brown and beige — and now has LED lights at night.

Sercer, the owner of Sercer Machine & Fabrication, typically customizes trucks and off-road vehicles — a far cry from rebuilding kitschy monuments.  

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The 5,000-pound peanut took around 700 to 800 hours to build, said Sercer. 

In total, the "Big Peanut" is more than 40 feet tall from base to tip. 

With the new version of the Big Peanut, Miller hopes this is now even more tourist-friendly.

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She plans on setting up a "selfie spot" for tourists, she told the Associated Press, to show off the Big Peanut's best photographic angles. 

The Associated Press contributed reporting.