Sprouting up in Auburn Art is a hand-carved replica of a Toomer's oak, driven all the way from California.
When the final removal of the iconic oaks took place in April, Cliff Hare, owner of Auburn Art, didn't want the Toomer's area to remain tree-less for the upcoming football season.
"I didn't want the trees to come down and people come to town and not have anything to see and have a somber football season," Hare said. "I started putting everything in the works so I could try to get it in before football season."
Though the replica took approximately five months to construct, Hare has been conceptualizing the sculpture for about a year.
"I started chit chatting with him (Bob Jones, artist behind the replica) about some designs and ideas and started sending him pictures of the trees and things like that and over a few months we came up with a design plan."
The sculpture is made from a steel frame, layered with mesh and sculpting material - but to the outsider it could be mistaken for the oak that stood at Toomer's corner.
"Hearing the legacy of the school and the trees' significance to the school, we just wanted it to be as accurate as we could in shape and color and get the features right," Jones said as he pointed out a scar on the trunk that one of the trees once bore.
Hare said that the replica turned out almost exactly as he had imagined it. Above all, the sculpture serves as a means to preserve the legacy behind the oaks.
"The new generations (of Auburn fans) won't be able to do anything except see pictures of what the trees were like," Hare said. "This will give them a chance to see it and touch it and stand under it and let their parents tell them what it was all about."
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