Truthfully, I first heard about Thomas Dambo and his wood trolls when Poulsbo, where I live, considered adding one of his trolls to the local Fish Park. I thought that the troll was a perfect addition to a little city with Scandinavian roots; a place where we have a giant Viking statue and hold Viking Fest every May.
However, the troll was downvoted by the city in October 2022, citing the expense, the priority of other projects, and the longevity of a wood sculpture like Dambo’s.
In comes Bainbridge Parks and Rec and a troll had a new home (after some serious work, of course).
Pia the Peacekeeper was officially “born” on August 19, 2023.
She’s part of a project called “Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King,” a public art project of the Scan Design Foundation which has brought six of Dambo’s trolls to various PNW locations — most of them in Western Washington and one in Portland.
Dambo has now build 100 (or perhaps more now) of these trolls worldwide and makes them out of recycled materials.
Pia is 18 feet tall and has large, welcoming hands large enough to invite adults to stand within them — definitely meant for those photo ops.
We took some Seattle friends out to see Pia on a drizzly Saturday and found parking difficult. I anticipate that, after some time, the traffic will die down a bit. I returned on a sunnier weekday morning with camera in tow and found Pia to have significantly fewer visitors at that time.
Our friends noted that one of their Seattle friends asked the question “There’s ALREADY a troll in Seattle? Why do we need MORE trolls?” While we love the Fremont troll and Pia likely won’t replace him in my heart, I think there’s room for at least one troll under every bridge.
Locations of Thomas Dambo wood trolls:
Here’s a map of the location of the Thomas Dambo wood trolls in the PNW:
