MITCHELL HORUCY
Asst. Sports Editor
When creating sculptures in 1992 for a Boston, M.A. sculpture show, Marcia Belliotti had no idea one of her creations would lead to almost 30 years of local fame.
Belliotti, a resident of Fredonia, crafted a total of 15 sculptures for a sculpture show she was attending, one of which was a life-sized model of a horse. The horse is brown and is made out of chicken wire and fiberglass.
After returning from the show, she was able to get all of her sculptures through the door except one, the horse she had made. Without a plan on what to do with the horse, Belliotti left it on their porch without a second thought.
Soon after the horse made its debut on the porch of the Belliotti household, it quickly became a can’t-miss novelty on Central Ave.
Bellioti had this to say on the horse and its rise to fame, “We had people honking, coming up to me and my husband to talk about it. We decided to leave it up.”
The horse has not had an easy life, however. Early on, people tried to vandalize it, or even take it.
In response to people doing things of this sort, it’s now epoxied to the ground and locked up to the house to prevent anyone from pulling off a heist.
When FredFest was at its peak, the horse was a popular “toy” for partiers to attempt to climb and ride. To combat this, it was covered with a ton of Vaseline so that anyone who tried to get on top of the sculpture would slip
off.
Over the years, it has become a frequently used stop in scavenger hunts done by clubs and greek life at Fredonia. Her first interaction with the horse being a stop on scavenger hunts was a couple of years after the horse debuted.
“I heard the doorbell ring and opened the door to the men’s rugby team,” said Belliotti. “They were very respectful and asked for a picture with the horse, which was interesting.” She said ever since then it’s been a bit hit amongst scavenger hunts.
A shrub has grown in front of the horse making it a bit more difficult to see it at first glance which has made the famous project take a dip in popularity amongst Fredonia residents and students.
Emma Horucy, a graduate of SUNY Fredonia, happened to live a few houses from the horse for two years. She also noticed it one of the first times she arrived at Fredonia during her freshman year.
“It always brought me a little bit of joy as I walked past it on my way to campus,” said Horucy. “Whenever I had friends visiting, it always caught their eye.”
The horse house isn’t the only house on Central Ave. with some fame in the Fredonia area. Writer Mark Twain also lived on the road during his short stay in the village.
About a quarter mile down the road, Twain completed his two-year stay at 36 Central Ave.
After lecturing at Fredonia’s Normal School Chapel, now One Temple Square, he fell in love with the place. It was noted that he enjoyed the area’s “intelligent and attractive” audience.
However, his time here was short-lived. He made several bad investments and suffered some unfortunate experiences in his personal life that led him to leave.