A giant peach and oversized eggplant – better known as cheeky emojis – have sparked outrage in one of Maryland’s historic districts, where unimpressed preservationists have ordered the playful statues to be torn down.
The three-foot-tall fruit and vegetable, perched outside a wine shop and café, have become quirky selfie magnets for tourists.
But their not-so-innocent reputation online – the peach emoji is widely used as a symbol for a bottom while the eggplant represents male anatomy – has only inflamed the fight.
Earlier this month, Howard County’s Historic Preservation Commission ruled the colorful displays were out of place, saying they blocked views of historic buildings and clashed with the district’s heritage charm.
Commission chair Julianne Danna called the peach ‘enormous’ and distracting for drivers, arguing such oversized art would be better suited to a mall or college campus rather than a cobblestoned street known for its historic architecture.
The peach, outside Georgia Grace Café, has already been ordered down.
The eggplant, outside The Wine Bin, was granted a 12-month reprieve before it too must vanish.
Howard County later confirmed the decision, saying the café could apply to move the peach elsewhere or appeal the ruling in circuit court.
The shiny purple eggplant sculpture in front of Wine Bin was granted a 12-month reprieve but faces removal next year
The oversized peach sculpture outside Georgia Grace Café has been ordered down after officials ruled it too distracting for the historic street
The debate has left the town divided. Shopkeepers plastered ‘Save the Peach and Aubergine’ signs in their windows, insisting the statues bring in visitors and add a whimsical flair.
‘It’s cute, it’s fun, it’s kitschy,’ Dave Carney, owner of The Wine Bin, where the eggplant stands, told the Baltimore Sun.
‘I guess I don’t quite understand the innuendo because I have one of those body parts and it doesn’t look like that and it’s not purple, so I’m not sure really how that came about. It’s kind of weird. So, it’s kind of comical that people think that,’ Carney told 11 News.
He says customers leave trinkets from painted rocks to Lego figures at its base, turning it into a kind of mini shrine.
The property manager who filed the application to keep the sculptures vows to fight the ruling in court, blasting the commission’s decision as ‘arbitrary and capricious,’ according to the Baltimore Sun.
Other longtime business owners say they worry Ellicott City risks looking joyless if the statues are removed.
Both sculptures were created by Jan Kirsh Studio, which specializes in oversized fruit and vegetable artwork
Shopkeepers have plastered ‘Save the Peach and Aubergine’ signs in store windows, vowing to fight the ruling in court
‘Art has always been important to our community,’ shopkeeper Sally Tennant, who has worked in town for 45 years, told the Baltimore Sun. ‘There’s no reason a peach and an eggplant should cause this kind of uproar.’
The sculptures were commissioned from Jan Kirsh Studio, an Eastern Shore artist.
She began her career as a landscape designer before turning fruit and vegetables into her signature high-end art.
Over the years she has expanded her work into jewelry and two-dimensional fine art screens for the home and garden.
