Connell is getting a big present for its 100th birthday.

The city of 2,600 will celebrate its centennial Sept. 9-11 with the dedication of community art pieces made by an internationally known artist.

Six bronze animal sculptures created by New York artist Tom Otterness will be unveiled during the annual Connell Fall Festival on Sept. 11 after the 11 a.m. parade.

The first bronze to be revealed will be a critter opening mail outside the Connell Post Office. Each sculpture features whimsical local animals, inspiring the artwork's title Wild Life. The others creatures are scattered around Connell's downtown.

Otterness was hired by the Washington State Arts Commission to create the bronze figures and stone tables and benches for downtown.

The $431,584 project is the second phase of a $620,584 Art in Public Places Program initiated by the state Legislature in 1974. The law allocates one-half of 1 percent of the state's capital construction budget for public art.

The money for the Connell project came from the recent $179 million expansion of the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center.

The unveiling comes just in time for the city to celebrate its centennial.

Arnold Hudlow, treasurer of the Connell Heritage Museum's board of trustees, said the Northern Pacific Railway Co. finished putting a railroad through what is now Connell in 1881. In 1883, the railroad station was known as Palouse Junction, Hudlow said.

The name Connell appeared on the application for the Connell Post Office made in 1886. Hudlow said the name likely came from Joseph Connell, who was the station agent for Northern Pacific then.

Railroad advertisement brought people to Connell in the late '80s, but it wasn't until after irrigation came in the late '50s that population began to boom, he said. Then the town began transforming from the railroad town it was to the agricultural community it is today.

Historic Connell still is alive through some of the downtown buildings that remain, he said. For example, the Connell Heritage Museum, on West Adams Street, is in the restored 1904 Presbyterian church building. And the circa-1906 Old Hardware Store is now the Never Ending Garage Sale.

The town was incorporated in 1910.

Connell Fall Festival schedule:

Sept. 8-11

Columbia Basin Jr. Livestock Show, behind Connell High School

Sept. 9-11

Carnival at Pioneer Park

Sept. 10

6 p.m. -- The Dirty, Purty Ugly Truck Contest and the Tumbleweed Contest, next to the Ed Poe Agency
7 p.m. -- Connell Eagles football game against Chelan at Connell High School
9 p.m. to 1 a.m. -- Friday Karaoke at Hazy's Tavern, age 21 and older

Sept. 11

6 to 10 a.m. -- Fireman's breakfast at the newly remodeled fire hall on Columbia Avenue.
7:30 a.m. -- 5K and 1K Harvest Trot begins at the fire hall
10:30 a.m. -- Kiddie Parade, register at 9 a.m. at Connell Grange Supply
11 a.m. -- Grand Parade starting at north end of Columbia Avenue. Then dedication of the Tom Otterness artwork at the Connell Post Office

Noon to 5 p.m. -- Art, Flower Show and Sunflower Contest at the Connell Community Center
Noon to 4 p.m. Connell Heritage Museum open
9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. -- Saturday Street Dance at Hazy's Tavern, age 21 and older

*Kristi Pihl: 582-1512; kpihl@tricityherald.com