Giant Topiary Chicken Framework

WALB says the city started the Wild Chicken Topiary project in 2019, and reported then that the mayor first planned 58 feet to top the 56-foot Big Chicken in Marietta, before the builder suggested 62 feet so it would be the world's largest topiary. KUNC reported in 2021 that then-mayor Jim Puckett steered at least $300,000 from a special local sales tax into it, and wanted visitors to stay overnight in a bed and breakfast inside the chicken. In a 2021 NPR report carried by KUNC, Puckett said the chicken weighs 19 1/2 tons and is all solid U.S. steel. Puckett was succeeded by Jason Holt after the November 2021 election; NPR described that vote as a "giant chicken referendum", and Holt said the community "was not happy that funds were spent on it."

In June 2023 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the city council voted to drop the topiary. The frame itself was kept. Holt said the project had cost the city nearly $300,000. Leaders had been told maintenance would have been $50,000 a year and demolishing the frame could cost another $40,000. Holt was quoted as saying: "I guess we will still be the largest chicken but we won't have the largest topiary."

Wikipedia reports that work restarted in January 2024, and a WALB feature in April 2025 counted the 62-foot chicken monument among the town's emblems.