Sirena is missing her catfish.

Sometime last week, someone cut the 14″ by 42″ long bronze Magical Catfish from the stone base of Sirena in order to steal it.

After discovering that the catfish was missing, local artist Troy Kelley contacted Salado Police, who are investigating the theft of the bronze statue. If you have any information about the missing catfish, please call the Salado police department at 254-947-5681.

Kelley has also contacted local scrap metal businesses in hopes of saving the catfish from the smelter. He tells Salado Village Voice that the bronze catfish probably weighs no more than 40 lbs. which means that its value in metal is no more than $160 at tops.

“But its value to the children of Salado is much more than that,” Kelley says.

Catfish was a gift

The Magical Catfish has been a companion to Sirena for a number of  years. Susan Humiston and Nancy Mills Mackey commissioned Kelley to sculpt the magical catfish and place it in Salado Creek with Sirena. It was done as a surprise gift for local playwright Jackie Mills.

Mills incorporated the Legend of Sirena into her 20-year outdoor play Salado Legends. In 1991, for the five-year anniversary of Sirena being placed by Kelley in Salado Creek, Mills wrote the children’s book, “Sirena of Salado.” In the story, the catfish convinces Sirena that she will find the love of her life, but will have to become a mermaid once a month. If her true love sees her in this form, she will have to remain that forever.

The catfish made the move from the Sirena Springs to the new location on the west side of the Main Street bridge. Kelley decided after the floods of 2009 and 2010 and the major landscaping done around the Sirena springs that the new Sirena would find a new home on a little higher ground.

Scouts beautify Sirena area with flower bed ready for planting

And just a little more than a week ago, a local Eagle Scout candidate organized a project to beautify the area around Sirena.

Members of Boy Scout Troops 108 and 109, along with friends, family, and community members joined Eagle Scout candidate Ryan Cook June 6 in creating an accent flower bed surrounding Artist Troy Kelley’s Sirena sculpture near Salado Creek.

Cook had first approached Keep Salado Beautiful late in 2014 on projects within the community that need to be completed.  Susan Terry, the representative for Keep Salado Beautiful, presented him with the basic requirements for the project at the Sirena sculpture and both agreed on the terms of the project completion.

In early May, initial planning was complete and Cook met again with Troy Kelley and Keep Salado Beautiful for final approval.  Cook began coordination for supplies, equipment, and materials to complete the project with Apache Stone of Salado donating the white Texas limestone to the project that would make up the border of the flower bed.

Early in the morning, volunteers gathered at Salado Creek to begin work on the project by first clearing grass from the surface surrounding the Sirena.  By late morning preliminary work was complete and the stones were starting to be set in the accent flower bed.

Shortly after lunch, workers began the final stage of the project by adding new top soil to the beds in preparation for Keep Salado Beautiful to add the plants.

Sirena has been a part of Salado’s story since just past midnight on Jan. 1, 1986. Kelley and friends shared a toast and dedicated Sirena at that time so that she would be the first dedication of public art during the Texas Sesquicentennial.

Mills and Kelley are hopeful that Sirena and her magical catfish will be reunited here in Salado.