Thomas Dambo will build a new troll sculpture in Teller County

The beloved Isak Heartstone troll in Breckenridge is about to get a new friend in Teller County.

If you haven’t encountered Isak Heartstone before, here’s what you need to know: He’s a 15-foot wooden troll created with locally sourced scrap wood and materials by Danish recycle artist and activist Thomas Dambo. Isak is one of the many art installations that has made Dambo’s work famous worldwide.

Now, the Gold Camp District Impact Group (gcDIG), a nonprofit charitable organization, is preparing to welcome its own troll to the Cripple Creek and Victor communities in southern Teller County.

In late June, Dambo announced a new project called “Way of the Bird King,” in which he road trips from Vermont across the country to Washington and builds 10 trolls and thousands of birdhouses along the way. One of his stops for troll-building is Colorado.

Parts of the troll — which is unnamed as of now — will be made in Dambo’s workshop in Copenhagen and then be shipped to Teller County. With help from five to eight team members, plus a few local carpenters and five to seven daily volunteers, Dambo will finish and install the troll in an undisclosed location in the county. The build dates run July 27 through Aug. 4, 2023.