Ambitious Spider

Arty arachnid Frank pauses in the midst of his latest creation to wave to the gathering crowd. Fashioned over 4-1/2 hours as the centerpiece of the Annual Spider Festival of Cable, Wisconsin (near Spider Lake), Frank’s creation will stand for the final full day of the Festival. Any and all interested groups — including the local 4-H Club, Boy Scout Troop 415, The Rotarians of Cable, Auntie Bee’s Sunday Quilting Society, and the Marmot Lodge Whiskey, Gun & Dynamite Club — will be having their photos taken by the town shutterbug, Mervis Lickspittle, in front of this grand web throughout the day.

At birth, Frank the Spider was actually christened Homer 141 (among a total sibling count of 2,889). But soon after his architectural ambitions sprouted, he felt compelled to adopt the name of his true hero, Frank Lloyd Wright. Over the years, Frank has festooned Cable with minaret webs and tepee webs, cathedral webs and cow palace webs, drug store webs and drive-through webs, hotel webs and hospital webs. (During the city’s Dog Days of Summer Super Sidewalk Sale, Accordion Playoff & Craft Show last August, Frank even wove a teeny doghouse web with a snoring web Snoopy atop!)

Frank has titled this new creation ‘Silken Shangri-La’, and is certain that it will help the town of Cable at last vanquish it’s nearest global challenger, the city of Liverpool, England, and its ‘Spider in the City’ event.