By Kevin Rowson
MABLETON, Ga. (WXIA) -- It was almost one year ago when Cobb County Fire and Emergency
was called out after a caller said he saw a body in the middle of Sope
Creek. Two river rescue squads found out it wasn't a body, it was a
statue. The statue appeared to be St. Joseph from a holiday Nativity
scene.
RELATED STORY | Firefighters rescue a statue from rising creek
The story has become folklore in the Providence subdivision in
Mableton where a holiday tradition was started a few years ago. Chandon
Adams found a plastic statue of St. Joseph in a home that was foreclosed
on.
Adams and another neighbor, Andy Edwards put the statue in a
neighbor's yard as a practical joke. "He stayed there for a few days and
we thought it would be interesting if we had Joseph maybe move to
somebody else's yard," Edwards said. "We moved him into a different yard
and put a little gift with him and from there he has migrated all over
the neighborhood."
It has been a tradition ever since, a tradition that almost ended
last year. "One of the last homes that we delivered him to he was just
gone, so we don't know from there what happened to Joseph," Edwards
said.
Shortly after their statue disappeared, the Joseph statue was found
in Sope Creek. Once neighbors saw the story on 11 Alive News, the legend
began. "We passed the story around, got some laughs about it, but then
started to think, I wonder if it could be our Joseph," Edwards said.
They called their statue "Joseph Poloron". Poloron was written on the
base of the statue and is the name of the company that makes the molded
statues. Joseph Poloron now has a Facebook page with pictures neighbors took of their statue with their children and in their yards. He also has a Twitter account. Both social network sites refer to the story from Sope Creek and query whether it is their statue.
PHOTO GALLERY | Facebook photos
But they didn't let the tradition die. The neighborhood has a new
Joseph statue which currently stands in a neighbor's yard wearing a
soccer jersey, headband and black eye shadow.
They still wonder if the Joseph found in Sope Creek is their Joseph.
Cobb County Fire and Emergency said they are trying to find out what
happened to the Sope Creek statue after they pulled it out of the
waters.
So what would happen if they still have it and it's the Mableton
neighborhoods original Joseph? Would it be welcome back in the
neighborhood with the new statue? "I suspect we'd have to put that up to
a vote and probably old Joseph would win out I believe," Edwards said.
You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kgrowson
WXIA