On the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard, movie stars leave handprints in wet concrete. On Main Street in Haines last week, a cow moose and two calves did the same thing.
The three moose “came right down Main Street” at about 1:45 p.m. on June 28 before turning left and traipsing across the newly poured sidewalk on the corner of Main and Third Avenue, said Dave Smith, superintendent for Southeast Roadbuilders.
Smith, who saw what happened, said that he and the rest of the construction crew didn’t want to smooth over the prints. They called their supervisors at the Department of Transportation in Juneau and asked about keeping them.
The state’s rule, Smith explained, is any imprint more than a quarter inch in depth is required to be smoothed over, due to regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. “We would have had to fix it if it was deeper, but it’s less (than a quarter inch).”
Workers and residents like the prints, he said. “Everybody thinks it’s great as far as I’ve heard.” Smith said he has seen dogs run through wet concrete, but never moose. “It’s neat that it’s so natural.”
Coincidentally, the prints are located on the sidewalk across the street from the Moose Horn building on Main.