Mudgy Honored With Statue, Special Day

COEUR D’ALENE — If you see a moose on Tubbs Hill in Coeur d’Alene, don’t be alarmed, it’s Mudgy, the main character in a new children’s book titled “Mudgy and Millie,” written by local author Susan Nipp.

The book is creating quite the buzz, so much in fact that Governor Butch Otter was in town Wednesday to announce September 13th as Mudgy and Millie Day.

The book is a story about Mudgy the Moose and Millie, a mouse who plays a game of hide and seek. Mudgy wanders Tubbs Hill, the Coeur d’Alene Library, through downtown Coeur d’Alene and to Independence Point searching for Millie.

Not only can you read the book, but you can follow in Mudgy’s hoof prints with the help of a local sculptor and the Coeur d’Alene Parks Department. Nipp has also created the official Mudgy Moose Trail, a 2.25 mile trek with stopping points along the way.

The sculptor has created five life-size Mudgy statues along the trail, exactly where the moose pauses to look for Millie in the book.

“Oh, people have been amazingly accepting and loving it and can’t wait for the book to come out, which is next week,” Nipp says. “Kids are excited, which you can see that adorable bronze moose, and they love to play on him already.”

People can meet Nipp, walk the trial and get a copy of the book at the Coeur d’Alene Library on September 13th.