We were lucky to catch up with Tom Lakenen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tom , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Building Lakenenland sculpture park. About 30 years ago I quit drinking, not one to sit around I started building metal sculpture s in any free time I had to keep from drinking. Working construction as a welder for a living and having a weld shop/garage and lots of useable scrap from various construction jobs my free time was put to good use. Each new sculpture was put in front of our house until Townhall complained! Needing a place to display the sculpture we refinance d the house for another 100 years and bought 37 acres 8 miles down the road and built Lakenenland Sculpture park, it’s been 20 years ago this year that we did that and it’s been very rewarding seeing people enjoying the park!

Tom , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Lakenenland is completely made from recycled iron, I am like a homeless man when I am on a construction job, always looking in the dumpsters. I have not bought any iron, just trade beer or a box of donuts to the contractor for scrap, it’s amazing what you can get on a construction job with a case of beer, lol,. I leave the park open 24/7 and it is completely free of charge, the sculpture trail is 1/2 mile loop and can be walked or driven in a car. I have about 100 sculpture now and always adding more. I heard along time ago to be successful at something you have to be really good or really different, I decided it would be easier to be really different and that it is.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Chocolay township wouldn’t allow my sculptures to be displayed in my yard. I then bought property zoned for a park, Chocolay Township threatened me with tickets for 8 years straight for things that are perfectly legal, like having a unattended fire in the winter with the ground covered in snow, putting a sign near the highway, building a health department approved out house, building a township permitted band shell with all the proper permits, allowing anyone to camp on 37 acres in the middle of the UP! I finally met a corporate lawyer who helped me get a federal land patent on the property, I posted property with keep out signs for the local planning and zoning board members and everyone else in the world is welcome!! That ended my township problems, it’s been over 10 years now and they’ve left me alone..

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The park is free but I do have couple donation spots if someone wants to help and every dime is put back into the park, so financially it’s not real rewarding but when you see a bunch of people laughing and having a good time or a bus load of kids on a field trip having a blast it makes it all worthwhile, especially the not so well off financially who can’t take a trip somewhere else or the physically handicapped getting outdoors for awhile, seeing them having fun, priceless!!       

Contact Info:

• Website: Lakenenland.com
• Other: All of the above if you can? I’m not real good with computers so anything you can share it on would be great!

Image Credits
Tom Lakenen. Lisa Lakenen can