World’s First Muffler Man

If the fiberglass rendition of Louie the Lumberjack outside the Walkup Skydome looks familiar, that's because it is actually one of around two hundred Muffler Men found across the United States. International Fiberglass constructed the Muffler Men in the 1960s and 1970s for various roadside businesses across the country. Most have identical faces with or without a beard, and typically hold some object in their hands. Although many of the businesses that originally commissioned them have closed down, they often remain as tourist attractions and symbols of their local communities.

In 1962, the very first Muffler Man was constructed by International Fiberglass's predecessor, Prewitt Fiberglass Animals. It was meant to be a statue of legendary giant Paul Bunyan for a customer in Sacramento. When the statue went unpaid for, however, it was sold instead to the Lumberjack Cafe in Flagstaff. International Fiberglass would go on to use Paul Bunyan's mold for all the other Muffler Men.

After the Lumberjack Cafe rebranded in the late 1970s, it was donated to Northern Arizona University, who repainted it in their own livery. Eventually, the statue and the university's mascot acquired the name Louie from the 1963 song “Louie, Louie.” NAU also acquired a second lumberjack Muffler Man from the Lumberjack Cafe, built several years later. It now lies on the south side the Walkup Skydome, further away from the main entrance and box office. A third smaller wooden lumberjack statue from the cafe also stands at 218 S Milton Road.