WOOLWICH (NEWS CENTER Maine) — If you’re driving Maine’s mid-coast Route 1, be ready for the biggest lobster you’ve ever seen.
Larry the Lobster — 70 feet long, 12 feet high — is draped across the roof of the Taste of Maine restaurant in Woolwich. The giant lobster was created to celebrate the restaurant’s 40th anniversary.
"My daughter Dina last year said, 'Mom, the 40th anniversary is coming up, we’ve got to do something big,'" said Candy Gregory, owner of the restaurant.
Gregory said they soon hit on the idea of a big lobster. Her daughter found a business in California that makes giant inflatable objects.
But could they make a Maine lobster?
"And they said, 'absolutely.' They said, 'you want 60 feet, 70 feet?' I said, 'let's go with a 70-footer.' But his detail is amazing and they did a fantastic job."
That’s how Larry came to be crawling across the roof of the restaurant. Gregory named him Larry after her brother, the first owner of the Taste of Maine.
"He thought it was pretty cool," Gregory said.
The company that created the 70-foot inflatable creature came to Maine to install it. Gregory says it is filled with air from two large fans and is lashed to the roof by a web of ropes and dozens of anchors. Once Larry was tied down, the fans were turned on.
Gregory said it took about 10 minutes for him to take shape.
"Oh my God, it was breathtaking," she said. "He was just so beautiful."
As one might expect, the sight of a 70-foot lobster has been irresistible to passing drivers. Gregory said the restaurant had to put up signs to tell people not to stop on the busy highway to take pictures. Many pull into the parking lot to admire Larry and take photos.
Sheila Palmer of Burnham was in the parking lot Friday, saying she and her husband had pulled a U-turn on the highway to come back and get a closer view.
"Oh, I think it’s great to see the lobster is eating the restaurant," Palmer joked.
Gregory said most comments have been positive, and that customers seem to appreciate Larry the Lobster, almost as much as she does.
"He’s gorgeous," she said.