The Apple Street dragon is back.
Years ago Norco resident David Cain received a dragon statue from a friend. He initially put it in his front yard as a joke, but the creature slowly but surely became a local landmark.
“I just put it out there for fun,” Cain said, adding that eventually the dragon could often be seen in holiday attire and even a face mask during the peak of the COVID pandemic.
The dragon survived floods and hurricanes but did not survive vandalism in January.
“Ida destroyed the fence,” Cain set. “I set up the dragon to look like it had destroyed the fence, but it looks like someone came and took one of the fence poles to the dragon.”
Cain said a Facebook post that he wrote about the vandalism garnered hundreds of comments – many of them offering to donate money to replace the dragon.
“I just didn’t realize it was that much of a thing,” Cain said of the dragon. “But everyone was so upset.”
Cain refused the monetary donations and instead repurposed the parts of the statue that could be salvaged and created a new dragon centerpiece for his yard. Now the dragon appears to be breaking out of a castle. Affixed to the top of the castle is a sign that reads ,”Apple Street Dragon … I’m Back.”
Cain unveiled the project that he’s been working on in his front yard Sunday.
“It’s just something that uplifts the community,” he said. “The community wanted it back and the kids were so upset it was gone.”
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