On a night in February, 1996, a mighty windstorm blew through Garrison, North Dakota, disrupting the otherwise quiet and…still existence of one the town’s most cherished citizens - Wally the Walleye. The 26 foot, fiberglass king-of-freshwater fish toppled from his post here in City Park, but don’t worry - no bodily harm had come to Wally during the fall. Within a couple of months, Wally was right as rain, back atop new and improved reinforcements. After all, Wally is a symbol of Garrison’s civic pride and natural history. But Garrison isn’t the only town in the U.S. claiming to be the “Walleye Capital of the World”, and Wally is only one of seven sculptural odes to the walleye across the country, so what makes him so beloved to visitors and citizens of Garrison alike? The answer lies in the town’s past, present, and future.

In the early days of Garrison, as the population steadily grew, the one-room schoolhouse began to bust its seams, and so in 1907 the town built their second school on the location where City Park and Wally the Walleye stand today. By 1916, Garrison had outgrown this school too, and so a third schoolhouse was built right behind the second. Students then attended classes in a modern building that could have only been described as palatial, with 12 rooms and a brick exterior. Sadly, in 1955, that school was lost to a fire, and instead of rebuilding here, the city decided to build the current high school a few blocks to the north. The streets bordering the east and west sides of City Park, however, provide evidence of the grounds’ historic past, as they are still called East and West School Street, respectively.

Wally’s origin came in 1980, when Garrison was celebrating its 75th anniversary and making its name as a tourism and recreation destination with events such as the Governor’s Walleye Cup fishing tournament in the plentiful waters of Lake Sakakawea. The Civic Club, Sportsman’s Club, and Governor’s Walleye Cup Committee came together to design and produce the large Walleye before you, initially known as - Willie! That’s right, Wally was previously known as “Willie”, until the news broke that the town of Baudette, Minnesota, had already built their own Walleye named Willie, so Garrison cast their net for a new name and in 1983, they came back with Wally!

Today, Garrison may not be the only town claiming to be the “Walleye Capital”, but they do have the largest walleye hatchery in the world at the Garrison Dam. Wally has even been featured in the book, Midwest Marvels, by Eric Dregni. He’s approximately ten times the length of the longest recorded walleyes, and physically accurate right down to his scales, sharp teeth, and cloudy eyes that help walleyes see in murky water. So, step up and make a fish-face for a photograph with Wally, or better yet, rig a line and cast for a walleye of your own in Lake Sakakawea. Who knows, maybe it’ll be as big as Wally!