Lawrence sculptor Elden Tefft applies coats of wax to Sandy

As North Lawrencians from across the country reunite again this year to celebrate their history and to catch up with each other, they’ll have something else to celebrate.

Elden Tefft, a Lawrence bronze sculptor, is creating a 3-foot “sandrat” to commemorate the traditions and people of North Lawrence.

“Sandrat” began as a derogatory term that people from across the river called North Lawrence inhabitants, but North Lawrencians, over time, adopted it as their own. The etymology of the term varies — with some of the stories being quite colorful — but sandrat most likely is a reference to actual rats that live in the sand, said Patty Breithaupt, a North Lawrence resident.

South Lawrencians were called “bluebellies,” a reference to their higher economic status. Their overalls, it’s said, were newer, so after a swim in the water, the dye would come off and turn their bellies blue.

Tefft, now 91, is a well-known sculptor whose works include the statue of Moses in front of Smith Hall on the Kansas University campus, the iconic Jayhawk in front of Strong Hall and Chesty Lion at Lawrence High School.

“For us sandrats to have a man like Mr. Tefft make something for us is such an honor,” Breithaupt said.

Tefft grew up on New York Street, just across the river, played on baseball teams that practiced in North Lawrence and is a longtime friend of sandrat Rolland Johnson.

He figured that made him something of an honorary (Tefft preferred the word “ornery”) sandrat himself. After Johnson, who lives in Texas, started organizing the annual reunions 11 years ago with another friend from the area, Tefft created a drawing of a sandrat and created small sandrat figures out of resin and plaster.

Breithaupt, who serves on the organizing committee for the sandrat reunion, approached Tefft with the idea to continue to have them available, and they began talking about the potential for a bigger sculpture.

And so, the idea for the 3-foot sculpture Tefft affectionately calls “Sandy” was born. He’s a happy sort of sandrat, smiling and wearing a top hat. He said he wanted the sculpture to reflect both confident dignity and charm.

“It had to be something that was animated,” he said, noting that an animator who worked in Hollywood came from North Lawrence, and had to reflect the self-esteem and self-assuredness that North Lawrencians feel today.

Today, the sculpture is in its earlier stages, and Tefft is working on a wax layer for the underlying structure of the sculpture.

The project still needs to raise money before it’s completed — probably somewhere between $25,000 and $35,000, Tefft’s son, Kim, guessed. But if the money is raised, the project could be completed in about a year, they estimate.

The hope is to install the sculpture in North Lawrence somewhere — perhaps in a park — surrounded by bricks and two stone pillars that give the history of the sandrat and the area.

The reunions began in the restaurant area of the Hy-Vee grocery store on Clinton Parkway in 1999, Breithaupt said.

Today, the reunions are well-attended, said Linda Lee, who also serves on the organizing committee with her husband, Tom. Though the first one had about 30 attendees, last year’s event drew about 200 people, and the organizers are expecting about 300 people this year, Lee said.

They’ll have photos from elementary school days going back to the 1920s, and people recount all kinds of stories. They run the gamut from rebuilding after major floods to the one about the man nicknamed Nookie who would set firecrackers under all the girls’ windows on Independence Day.

“It was more of a big family that lived in separate houses,” Tom Lee said.