The hit of the fair

It has become one of the hits of the fair, a nine-foot tall toothpick sculpture of San Francisco’s most renowned tourist attractions -- the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, the Ferry Building.

“The Sonoma County Fair is the first time it's been seen in all its splendor,” said creator Scott Weaver.

Ungainly and elegant all at once, the crowning glory is when Weaver, who spends every day, all day at the fair, rolls a brightly colored ping pong ball down through the landscape.

“From the minute I get there until the minute I leave, people are asking me questions, it is just amazing,” Weaver said. “I feel if people go to see it, they should see the ball roll through it, it brings life to it and makes it magical.”

Weaver, 48, a Rohnert Park resident, said he has been a toothpick artist since he was 10 and created a modern art-style Golden Gate Bridge and Lombard Street in San Francisco.

That was the beginning of the sculpture that would take 3,000 hours over 38 years to finish.

“It evolved over time. My mother always said, ‘Scott, can’t you get it done and start something new?’ I never felt it was done. Sometimes I would not work on it for five years at a time, I wouldn’t touch it for years, that is why it has taken me so long to make it,” Weaver said.

San Francisco is special to him, the home of four generations of his family. His great-grandfather had a winery in North Beach in the 1800s.

“And San Francisco is so recognized,” Weaver said.

Weaver said he is not surprised by the popularity of his piece, which won Best of Show.

“In my heart I felt my people would be blown away,” he said.

He also said he doesn’t know where his new-found celebrity will lead.

“I have had dozens of people mention Oprah, Leno, Letterman, Smithsonian, the Museum of Modern Art in the city, it needs to be on Bay Area Backroads,” Weaver said. “One man said he was so glad to be there to see it, he had tears in his eyes.”

Weaver said the sculpture sat in his living room for 23 years as it grew, moving from house to house, trying his wife’s patience.

But now it is done.

Or mostly done, Weaver admits.

“I really feel it is done, but I may add the laughing lady at Playland, she was a hit out there,” said Weaver, referring to Laughing Sal at Playland at the Beach. “People have been razzing me because there is no Pac Bell Park or Candlestick.”

The Sonoma County Fair is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The sculpture is located in the Kraft building.