EUREKA SPRINGS -- Even with a seven-story statue of Jesus watching over them, people in this tourist town just can't seem to knit along.
The latest controversy has pitted art lovers against nature lovers.
Yarn vs. bark.
Police questioned a 77-year-old Hungarian woman on Thursday regarding the theft of crocheted artwork from six trees in a city park in August.
Suzannie Roder told a reporter she didn't steal or destroy the colorful acrylic afghans.
"I know I'm being accused of it, but I don't steal," she said. "I'm a Christian. I'm too disabled to get into mischief. My lungs are shot. I would not be able to vandalize blankets off tall trees. I'm 4-foot-10."
But Roder said she hated the artwork that adorned the trees in Eureka Springs Music Park, which is across North Main Street from the house where she has lived for the past 31 years.
"I think it's ugly," she said. "I think the city should put in a garden, not blankets on the trees. When I look out the window, I want to see beauty because I live here."
Gina Gallina, the crochet artist who installed the artwork in the park, said the tree-trunk sweaters were ripped down, leaving only shreds behind.
"There's nothing as bad as doing something you love and the person who lives across the street hates it," said Gallina.
Roder said someone called the police on her Thursday, but they must have misunderstood something she said because of her accent.
"I am always being misunderstood," she said.
Gallina said she got a call Thursday from someone who had talked with Roder.
"She said 'I cut them down last time and I'll do it again if they put them up,'" said Gallina. "It's a personal thing what she did. I can let it go, but what burns me is she said she'd do it again."
Roder said she made no threats regarding new crochet art that Gallina and the Eureka Yarn Bombs began installing in the park on Friday as part of the May Festival of the Arts. The group of 15 people will continue yarn-bombing trees in Music Park today.
At least 13 trees in the park will have their trunks covered with yarn by the end of today, she said.
Eureka Springs Police Chief Thomas Achord said no report was made regarding the interview with Roder. But police installed a surveillance camera Friday morning on a telephone pole overlooking the park.
"We are just trying to deter anyone from vandalizing any of the park or city property," said Achord.
He said installation of the camera had been planned for a month.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Roder baked bread and cinnamon rolls and monitored the activity across the street. She sells baked goods at the farmers market and elsewhere in town.
Roder said she admires crochet work but she thinks it belongs indoors, on beds, chairs or the wall. Roder said she has planted flowers in the park across the street, which sometimes serves as a venue for musical performances. Two bands will perform there today.
Gallina initially crocheted the acrylic-yarn wraps to go around trees at Basin Park in downtown Eureka Springs during the May Festival of the Arts in 2016. In November of that year, with the city's permission, the artwork was moved to Music Park, where it remained for nine months.
Gallina said she planned to take the wraps down when they began to deteriorate, but they still looked vibrant in the shaded park until they disappeared in August.
The city had bought the artwork from Gallina for $300 each, bringing the total value of the missing items to $1,800, according to a Sept. 1 police report.
Sandy Martin, who is president of the Eureka Springs Arts Council, said Roder complained to the mayor in 2016 before the afghans were moved from Basin Park to Music Park.
"Then, the day we were doing the installation, she brought us a pancake breakfast," said Martin.
Martin said Roder also had complained about the noise.
Music Park contains artwork by Ranaga Farbiarz that is musical, including a chair that's a xylophone and a tunnel of chimes that play the John Lennon song "Give Peace a Chance" if they are tapped by visitors walking through.
Eureka Springs is an artist colony full of nature lovers. Roder said she prefers the natural beauty of the trees.
There's been some question over whether yarn harms trees.
Berni Kurz, county agent and a trained horticulturalist with the Washington County Extension Service, said the yarn sweaters might cause problems if left in place for several years, but not if it's just for one or two years.
"It would be a safe place for detrimental insects and fungi to take up residence," he said. "The longer bark is wet the more opportunities insects, bacteria and fungi have to invade and cause issues."
The theft of bombed yarn isn't unique to Eureka. Gallina said there have been similar incidents in other parts of the country.
"There's so much drama that goes with this crochet crowd," she said. "I don't know what it is."
And then, Gallina said, there are the hostilities between crochet artists and knitters, who make utilitarian things like clothing.
"Can't we all just knit along?"
Metro on 05/12/2018