When the Berdoll family gets together, there’s one topic that’s always on their minds.
“Of course, we’re talking about pecans,” says Jennifer Wammack, co-owner of Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company.
So, it’s no surprise that in 2010, while on a family trip to Port Aransas, Jennifer ended up discussing business with her husband, Jared Wammack. The couple had purchased the family company from her parents, Hal and Lisa Berdoll, in 2008 and were looking for ways to update the now 45-year-old store known for its pecan pies and candies. They wanted to build something that would draw passersby into their shop—something that, as Jared said to Jennifer, “people could not pass.” He had an idea: “What about a giant squirrel?”
From that simple suggestion grew a 14-foot-tall roadside attraction that has now become an essential element of the Berdoll brand. Known as Ms. Pearl the Squirrel, the huge statue looms outside the family’s Cedar Creek store, greeting travelers driving along State Highway 71 and following through on the promise that everything’s bigger in Texas. After all, Ms. Pearl is the largest squirrel statue in the world.
“It’s something to make a trip a memory,” Jennifer says.
The Wammacks commissioned Ms. Pearl through Blue Genie Art Industries, an Austin-based creative design and fabrication firm with the capability to digitally scan objects and replicate them at a desired scale through a process called computer numeric controlled routing.
To find the perfect model squirrel for the project, Jennifer bought several small figurines and displayed them in her store, inviting staff and customers to pick their favorites or offer critiques—eliminating those she was told “looked too much like hamsters,” until they determined a winner. Then, she passed the figurine on to Blue Genie, which created a full-size, Styrofoam Ms. Pearl.
Once the statue was painted and completed in early August 2011, Blue Genie co-founder Kevin Collins strapped it to the back of a trailer and made his “victory lap” to the Berdoll store.
“That’s always great fun for us,” Collins says about delivering a finished project to a customer.
With the statue set up on their property, the Wammacks started soliciting name suggestions from patrons. Eventually, they landed on one that Jennifer says just stuck. The suggestion came from a passing customer—Jennifer doesn’t even remember their name. But she’ll never forget the one they proposed for the store’s statue: Pearl.
Now, 14 years later, Ms. Pearl is a Berdoll icon. The store sells themed merchandise like magnets and stickers decorated with her image. The staff has adorned her with everything from an Easter basket to a birthday sign to a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2024 solar eclipse, she wore her own pair of eclipse glasses—a look that was photographed and featured on the cover of the Austin-American-Statesman. Every day, anywhere from 30 to 100 people pull off the highway to snap a photo with her, many of which are featured in the Ms. Pearl website’s photo gallery.
Unlike the Berdoll store, which closes at 7 p.m., Ms. Pearl welcomes visitors any time, any day. Some are not so friendly (at least twice, Collins has repaired bullet holes damaging the statue). But most are just hungry travelers who stop at the 24-hour pecan pie vending machine located just a few feet from the statue, according to the Berdoll security cameras that keep watch over the giant squirrel.
Every now and then, Ms. Pearl needs to get some work done to keep up her good looks. When too many long days in the sun have worn down her golden-brown coat, she’ll be hitched back up to a trailer and taken for a facelift (a new paint job). Jennifer says the store will often get worried calls from customers who’ve just seen the giant squirrel being hauled down the highways. She always assures them that the beloved statue won’t be gone for long.
About half the time, Jennifer says, visitors intentionally come looking for Ms. Pearl and the Berdoll store. Maybe they’ve read about her on “weirdest” or “biggest” must-see-attractions-in-Texas lists. Maybe they’ve stopped to take advantage of discounts based on Ms. Pearl’s age offered at the store as part of her annual birthday celebration in early August. Maybe, like the sorority chapter that traditionally takes a photo with Ms. Pearl every year over summer vacation, they’re repeat visitors who have the Berdoll store as a stop on their road trip itinerary.
The other half of the time, they’re passersby doing a double take in their car.
“You can hear the tires screeching,” Jennifer says.
These visitors tend to take photos with Ms. Pearl and stretch their legs in the grassy area outside the Berdoll store before stepping inside, looking around and maybe purchasing a few items. Jennifer likes to ask these customers, “Why did you pull in so fast?”
“We saw that big squirrel,” they’ll reply. “We had to stop.”
