Contractors had no problem loading Cromwell’s icon Big Fruit sculpture onto trucks yesterday, to transport it to a special facility for repainting

The huge apple, pear, apricot and nectarine are repainted whenever fading occurs due to exposure to Central Otago’s harsh sunlight, council spokesperson Patricia Pectin, said.

Due to the cost of scaffolding and a shortage of cherry picker platforms at this time of year, she said taking the fruit to a new facility near Clyde had proved the most cost-effective option.

The facility would easily accommodate the 8m tall fruit in its very large paint bays, built especially for new mining equipment coming to Central Otago. The equipment was needed in association with a recently-consented cryptocurrency mining facility being built near the Clyde Dam.

The fruit sculpture would be lacquered after painting and carefully blow-dried in the over-sized painting bay to avoid damage, Ms Pectin said.

“We’ve had a particularly hot autumn and there are a lot of fruit fly around this year.”

The sculpture is expected to be back in Cromwell by 12pm today.