UPDATED: 05/19/20 12:45 p.m.
A 1,800-pound, 11-foot-tall bust of Princess Ulele is coming back to the Tampa Riverwalk.
A press release from the Columbia Restaurant Group says the piece—titled "Ulele and the Lost Tribes,” and made by Arizona artist Vala Ola—will be reinstalled on the Sunset Lawn of Ulele restaurant in Tampa Heights at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20, the same day the restaurant reopens from the COVID-19 statewide shutdown of indoor dining.
The bust was removed in September 2018 at the request of Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn's office and has lived in a nearby warehouse ever since.
At the time, Ashley Bauman, communications director for Mayor Buckhorn, told CL in a text message that "This has nothing to do with the piece of art… It was erected without permission on land that is a public park, alongside a Riverwalk that we have worked hard to keep free of clutter. The codes apply to everyone and nobody has the liberty of erecting structures on property that does not belong to them."
On Tuesday, a rep for Columbia Restaurant Group told CL that the princesse's new spot is closer to the restaurant, next to the storybook for Humpty Dumpty, and only a few feet from the Ulele Trolley Bar.
"There won’t be a shell mound at this time, as was the case for the previous exhibition," the rep said.
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This article appears in May 14-20, 2020.