A beloved statue of a famous burro was heavily damaged in a wildfire that ripped through the tourist hub of Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim, park officials said.
Brighty lived in the Grand Canyon in the early 20th century and was featured in a 1953 children’s novel by Marguerite Henry, “Brighty of the Grand Canyon,” which would later be adapted into a movie, prompting the statue to be made in his honor.
The Brighty statue called the Grand Canyon Lodge its home for decades before the lodge was engulfed in flames the night of July 12. The lodge had been designated a National Historic Landmark in the late 1980s and was visited by tens of thousands of people each year.
Did the Brighty of the Grand Canyon statue survive?
Yes, the statue of Brighty of the Grand Canyon survived the Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge and about 100 other structures, according to Grand Canyon National Park spokesperson Joëlle Baird.
While Brighty did not melt, he was “heavily damaged due to the fire,” Baird said.
In the coming weeks, a specialized team will assess the grounds of the Grand Canyon Lodge, including the condition of the Brighty statue, she said.
Brighty’s condition has been of such interest that the Grand Canyon National Park website has added a question about the statue to its FAQs about the fire’s impact.
“Future plans for restoring or commemorating Brighty are being discussed as part of the North Rim recovery efforts,” the site said. “The statue holds deep meaning for many visitors, and the park is committed to honoring that legacy in future planning.”
A photo of unknown origin posted on social media after the fire showed a damaged Brighty tipped over, with a hole in the statue’s underside and missing back legs.
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Baird and the Grand Canyon Historical Society said that the hole in the hollow statue was present before the fire and was part of the casting process.
Baird said that it appeared from the photo that Brighty had lost a portion of his two front legs and one of his floppy ears.
Davy Crockett, vice president of the Grand Canyon Historical Society, said that the photo may look worse than reality.
“His legs fell off because the joints weren’t bronze and melted. He fell over. A photo is circulating that shows a big hole in his hind end. That hole was there before, where he sat on the pedestal. As far as we know the rest of his body is intact, but we have only seen a photo that has a poor angle,” Crockett said in an email.
Who was Brighty of the Grand Canyon?
Brighty was a real donkey who helped some of the Grand Canyon North Rim’s first settlers establish camp by carrying water through rugged terrain, said Crockett, an author and Grand Canyon historian.
John Fuller, a herdsman who lived seasonally on the North Rim, found the lone burro on a journey to the future site of Phantom Ranch near Bright Angel Creek at the bottom of the Canyon, according to Crockett’s book, “Grand Canyon Rim to Rim History.” Brighty would become known for his gentle nature, Crockett said.
Brighty lived wild and would come and go as he pleased, climbing up to the North Rim in the summer, and back into the canyon in the fall, said Crockett.
Brighty helped carry water from a spring to the Wylie Way Camp on the North Rim, making the trip as many as four to seven times a day, according to Crockett. It was more than half a mile each way and a 200-foot elevation change, according to Crockett’s book.
In the 1960s, Henry’s novel about Brighty was adapted for the silver screen, with Brighty played by a donkey named Jiggs, according to IMDb, an online movie database.
The Brighty statue was sculpted in the late 1960s by Peter Jepsen, who was commissioned by the movie’s producer to create the statue as a promotional effort, according to a Facebook post by Grand Canyon National Park.
Hikers rubbed the nose of the Brighty statue as a ritual for good luck, Crockett said.
Grand Canyon Historical Society considering fundraiser for statue
Tom Sulpizio, president of the nonprofit Grand Canyon Historical Society, said he has seen an outpouring of concern for the fate of the statue, including from families connected with the story of Brighty, such as the family of Martha McKee Krueger, whose father worked with Brighty hauling water, and the family of Stephen F. Booth, the producer of the 1967 movie.
“It’s a cultural icon that captured the imagination of children and adults,” Sulpizio said.
He said he had hope that a portion of the statue survived, even if badly damaged.
“Bronze doesn’t melt at wood-burning temperature. So, if ponderosa pine burns at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, bronze doesn’t even start melting until 1,200. But it gets sooty. It got darkened, the patina was affected,” Sulpizio said.
The Grand Canyon Historical Society was considering a fundraiser to help preserve or restore the Brighty statue, once the fire is fully contained and it is safe to start recovery efforts, Sulpizio said.
Rey Covarrubias Jr. reports breaking news for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email him at: rcovarrubias@gannett.com, and connect with him on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and X (formerly Twitter) at @ReyCJrAZ.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Beloved statue of ‘Brighty of the Grand Canyon’ damaged by wildfire