Storybook Capital of America

The 24 storybook sculptures gracing downtown Abilene make a playful backdrop for the Children’s Art and Literacy Festival. The Abilene Arts Council launched the project in 2012 with the installation of a bronze Cat in the Hat in Everman Park, next to the restored Texas and Pacific Railroad Depot. A new sculpture is unveiled each year during the festival. Perched atop a downtown building, a brontosaurus in a baseball cap smiles over an orange VW Beetle. Nearby, a bronze Santa Claus keeps benevolent watch over a street corner, and a duck rides a bike near the railroad tracks. Part of Abilene’s state-designated status as the “Storybook Capital of Texas,” the public sculptures now bolsters Abilene’s claim as the “Storybook Capital of America.” .