SALISBURY — Those driving by Our Neighbors’ Table’s Salisbury location will likely be doing double takes as they pass massive bovine statues reminiscent of ones at the former Hilltop Steak House in Saugus.
The statutes, according to ONT Executive Director Lyndsey Haight, have a simple purpose — helping bring attention to the nonprofit.
“We’re gonna milk it for all it’s worth,” she said.
Haight explained how ONT got their hands on the statues.
“The Dean family of Salisbury owns these cows, and these cows actually live just up the street from us here in Salisbury and they spend all spring and summer and fall touring New England, going to different agricultural fairs,” Haight said.
She said it seemed like a perfect fit to go outside the food hub.
“We just thought that what better place for them to finish their season than to just spend a little time here at the future home in the Seacoast Regional Food Hub,” Haight said.
E.J. Dean said that he hopes motorists are inspired by the eye-catching sight to support the nonprofit, noting that the statues will be there awhile.
“They’re available now for however long they need them. I don’t anticipate them staying there that long,” Dean said.
Haight said the plan is for them to be up at least through Thanksgiving.
“They’re helping us draw attention to the hub and to the work that we’re doing here. We want people to know that we’re here, and we want them to know that we need them to get involved, that everything is a community effort,” Haight said.
One of the specific efforts she said she wants to draw attention to is a fundraising campaign called 50 Together.
“The whole 50 Together is if we can get 50 people from each community to contribute at least $50 a month. If only 50 people from every community sign up to give $50 a month, that will get us to $1.5 million,” Haight said.
She said folks can make donations to fillmeup.org., with proceeds going towards funding the Seacoast Regional Food Hub.
“We’re over $5 million, and we’ve got a few big contributions that we’re expecting in the next couple months,” Haight said.
The nonprofit is in the midst of a $7.8 million capital campaign to fully fund the food hub so it can operate the facility debt free.
ONT first opened the 24,000-square-foot food market and storage facility on Bridge Road roughly four months ago. It includes 7,000 square feet of dry storage, as well as 3,000 square feet of cold storage. While the hub is still a work in progress, over a million pounds of food have passed through the building so far, with most of it coming from the Greater Boston Food Bank.
Speaking about the statues, ONT Communication Director Will Courtney said folks have been mistaking them for the ones that became Route 1 icons at the Hilltop Steak House.
“Our guests who came in shopping yesterday were asking, ‘is that actually the Hilltop Steak House bull,” Courtney said.
Dean said he recognized the similarities but pointed out the key difference.
“They’re actually probably about five-to-eight times larger than the ones that used to be a Hilltop,” Dean said.
Haight encouraged businesses to make the most of the new attraction.
“If you’d like to sponsor the cow or if maybe a business wants to hang their sign on it for a week or if folks want to come and do like a group activity around the cow, we are offering sponsorships,” Haight said.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.