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Ms. Pearl is a 14-foot squirrel statue outside Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company on State Highway 71 at Cedar Creek, Texas. Austin firm Blue Genie Art Industries completed it in August 2011; the Texas State Historical Association cites Texas Parks and Wildlife as calling it the world's largest squirrel statue.
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Ms. Pearl the Giant Squirrel
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Site-level location · 30.0847° N, 97.3086° W
FIELD GUIDE
The story
A 14-foot squirrel beside a Texas highway is the sort of sight that makes drivers brake hard. Ms. Pearl stands outside Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company on State Highway 71 at Cedar Creek, between Austin and Bastrop, and she is there on purpose: the store's owners wanted something "people could not pass".
According to Texas Highways in 2025, Jennifer and Jared Wammack, who bought the family business from her parents in 2008, hatched the idea on a 2010 trip to Port Aransas. They commissioned the Austin firm Blue Genie Art Industries, which scans objects digitally and reproduces them at scale using computer-controlled routing. To choose a model, Jennifer put several small squirrel figurines in the store and let staff and customers vote, dropping those that "looked too much like hamsters". Blue Genie made a full-size Styrofoam figure, painted it, and co-founder Kevin Collins drove it to the store in early August 2011. A passing customer suggested the name Pearl.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
The statue stands outside the working store, which, according to Texas Highways in 2025, closes at 7 p.m.; the squirrel itself can be visited at any hour. A 24-hour pecan pie vending machine is beside her, and there is a grassy area for photos.
ACCESS
Outside Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company, 2626 State Highway 71, Cedar Creek, Texas, on the roadside between Austin and Bastrop. Texas Highways (2025) says the statue welcomes visitors at any hour.
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