Installation of the tail that was removed from the Conny the Whale statue last spring began Wednesday morning along Trout Brook Trail in West Hartford.

By Ronni Newton

The tale of Conny the Whale, which last year became a mission to successfully salvage the tail, is starting a new chapter as the tail – with its fluke soaring 18 feet into the air – was installed Wednesday morning in its new permanent location along the Trout Brook Trail greenway in West Hartford, directly across the street from where the intact whale stood sentry on the grounds of the Children’s Museum for decades.

Site work began last week to ready a spot for the tail on a hillock along the trail, just east of Whole Foods, where it appears to be diving into Trout Brook, and swimming away to explore the world’s oceans, said Dan Barstow.

On Wednesday morning Conny’s tail was loaded onto a flatbed truck, and driven across town from the Public Works facility on Brixton Street where it had been in safekeeping after being removed and transported by flatbed truck last April.

It was likely a curious site to passersby as the 8,500-pound, 20-plus-foot-long tail was flying through the air as a crane carefully lifted it off the truck. The tail was placed on the ground for some finally trimming – before finally lowered by the crane into the prepared hole.

Conny’s tail is carefully lowered into the ground where is will be a new icon in the @TownofWestHrtfd along Trout Brook Trail! #WestHartford pic.twitter.com/QS8bsrzsY2

— We-Ha.Com (@WeHartford) May 29, 2024

Barstow, now a member of the Cetacean Society International Board of Directors, is the son of the late Dr. Robbins Barstow, co-founder of what was then the Connecticut Cetacean Society. Robbins Barstow led the effort to build Conny – nicknamed for “Connecticut” – in West Hartford, using all volunteers, and donated materials. Construction of Conny, which was made from concrete attached to rebar (structural steel), was completed in 1976.

Barstow served as the project manager for the relocation of the tail, and was on site Wednesday to observe the installation.

It was on May 29, 1976 – exactly 48 years ago to the date – that the pouring of the cement to cover Conny’s frame of steel, wood, and chickenwire, began, he said.

What happened Wednesday was wonderful, Barstow said. “What the construction folks, DiMatteo, and the crane people, Walker Crane, have done technically to be able to move the tail, have the base, get everything ready and prepared” is part of it. “Really it’s more a journey of the heart,” he added.

So many people in West Hartford associate Conny with their childhood – when they may have played inside the hollow statue – as well for its role as “an important symbol for environmental action, for saving the whales, and it’s so much more important now than it ever was before.”

Barstow said CSI worked very closely with the Town of West Hartford which owns the land, and the state, to determine the exact location for Conny’s tail, particularly since there is a cement tunnel that runs below the property and needed to be avoided when they dug the large hold for the tail’s base. When it was severed last spring, enough length was maintained to allow it to be affixed to a concrete base, buried, and stabilized with rebar. Another layer of concrete will be added before the rest of the hole is filled with dirt. “This thing isn’t going to go anywhere,” Barstow said.

“I’m so pleased that the crane was able to hold it, the tail didn’t break off. We’re good – this is going to look great,” he said.

The West Hartford Garden Club will take it from there, and has committed to adding and maintaining plantings that will beautify the area.

Conny’s eye was salvaged as well, and will be used with the educational signage that will be installed near the tail, along the greenway. The signage will include messaging about Conny. “This is just a symbol. Earth’s at risk, and we have to confront that reality. And the whale has been one symbol of that but we want to use that for a broader message – helping to take care of our home planet, earth.”

West Hartford has been so supportive, Barstow said, praising Mayor Shari Cantor and town staff. “This now becomes an icon for the town, and West Hartford should be very proud of its stewardship of this message.”

SLR Consulting did the engineering, Barstow said, to ensure the installation would work properly. A member of the construction crew at the site trimmed off bits of the severed end with a saw so it would be level and stable on the concrete base.

Conny’s tail has arrived and is being trimmed for installation in #WestHartford pic.twitter.com/BS5kFEPMcr

— We-Ha.Com (@WeHartford) May 29, 2024

Jessica Dickens, the president of CSI, also observed the installation on Wednesday morning. “It was a lot of hard work,” she said, crediting Barstow for his hard work coordinating the project. “We wanted to preserve Conny’s legacy. This was a great way to do it, even though we didn’t get to preserve the full whale. Just being able to save the tail as a symbol of whale conservation – and whales are important to our environment.”

Dickens said eventually there will be more information through an app or a QR code that can be used at the site of Conny’s tail to access information about the history of sperm whales and about whale conservation in general. “A year ago, when we were over there looking at Conny,” she said, pointing across the street where construction of a luxury apartment complex is well underway on the site where Conny once stood, “we didn’t know what the future actually would hold.”

There was an idea, “but to actually see this taking place, it’s wonderful,” Dickens said.

CSI’s total budget for the installation of the tail in the new location was about $60,000, Barstow said. The state provided a $38,000 grant, and funds raised through a “Save Conny the Whale!” GoFundMe campaign that CSI had launched in September 2022 were also used for the move and installation. Kingswood Oxford School also donated to the effort, and DiMatteo donated their labor.

Continental Properties, now the owner of the former Children’s Museum property is in the process of constructing a 172-unit luxury apartment building on the site, and covered the cost of cutting off Conny’s tail and moving it to Public Works last April.

The official dedication of the tail will be held this fall.

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