For months, residents and visitors alike have been asking the same question: When will Big John be back? The towering, iconic statue that once stood proudly in the South Cape Town Center has been absent while undergoing extensive repairs, but that wait is nearly over.
“I’ve been getting a lot of calls — people keep asking, ‘When’s John coming back?’” said Elmer Tabor, owner of the Big John statue. “They’ve been bugging the hell out of me!”
A familiar and beloved figure in Cape Coral for over 50 years, Big John has become part of the local identity. Many residents remember growing up with the statue as a fixture in their daily lives.
“He’s part of their family as well,” Tabor said. “It’s so neat to run into people that say, ‘I grew up with Big John.’”
The statue originally came to Southwest Florida from an Illinois-based Big John’s Grocery Store and has stood tall in South Cape since 1969, smiling and holding grocery bags in his hands.
This is the fourth major restoration for Big John over the decades, but the latest one became necessary after Hurricane Ian severely damaged the 28-foot-tall fiberglass and steel figure.
Back in November, Gulf Coast News captured the early stages of the statue’s repair. Since then, the team at Brand1 Ink in Cape Coral has been hard at work on the restoration, addressing everything from fiberglass and welding to paint and graphics.
“We ended up pretty well having to replace all the steel on him,” Tabor said. “The steel, the welding, the painting, the graphics — the whole nine yards.”
That full makeover hasn’t come cheap. Unexpected complications with the steelwork have added roughly $10,000 to the original $32,000–$34,000 estimate, Tabor said.
But despite the challenges, he said the makeover is well worth the time and investment.
“Big John’s going to come back with a great big smile on his face,” he said. “Yes, he’s going to have his bags in his arms. We’re doing a little tweak to him, but everybody’s going to be excited about it.”
So when can we expect his triumphant return?
Tabor said the fully restored Big John is expected to stand tall in South Cape once again within the next two months — better than ever, and ready to welcome back the community that’s missed him so much.