Tamarac Celebrates Speckles McFreckles Ribbon-Cutting for Dalmatian Statue

by Agrippina Fadel December 29, 2023

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Who’s a Good Dog? The Dalmation Statue Unveiled at Fire Station 36 is!

New Dalmatian statue in front of Fire Station 36. {City of Tamarac}

By Agrippina Fadel

Tamarac residents and their furry pals are invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Fire Station 36, unveiling the long-awaited Speckles McFreckles statue.

The grand reveal of the city’s newest public art installation will take place on Thursday, January 4, from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. at 7499 NW 72nd St.

The 16-foot-tall sculpture of the Dalmatian was finally installed this November. Created by the Puerto Rican artist Celso Gonzalez, the $38,000 art piece was paid for by the developers’ contributions to the city’s Public Art Fund.

The statue received its name in 2021 after a city-ran naming contest where Adoni Wollaston, a 5th-grader from Challenger Elementary, won with his “Speckles McFreckles” essay.

Wollaston, now a Sawgrass Springs Middle School 8th grader, wrote at the time that naming the statue needs to be as important as naming a human since Speckles would be a “part of such a large family as the City of Tamarac.”

A four-bay state-of-the-art facility, Fire Station 36 opened in January 2021. It is the fourth fire station in Tamarac, currently operating only with a rescue truck. The station will finally get a fire truck in the next two years after it was approved by the city commission last January.

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Agrippina Fadel

Agrippina Fadel grew up in Siberia and received her master's in journalism from Tyumen State University. A resident of Florida for over 10 years, she also works as a marketing and communication specialist at a local university.