Michigan Roadside Attractions on Travel the Mitten highlights our attempts to explore the many interesting things that can be found on the highways, byways and back roads of Michigan, ranging from the interesting to the unusual.

If you’ve followed our posts (especially the Roadside Attractions ones) for any length of time, you’ve probably seen the name Tom Moran a few times. We’ve enjoyed visiting and photographing his work at Awakon Park in Onaway, in front of the Besser Museum in Alpena, at the Walk of Art Sculpture Park in Elk Rapids, at Da Yoopers Tourist Trap in Ishpeming, on Mackinac Island, and at ArtPrize. On a recent trip to Northern Michigan and the U.P., we made a stop to track down another of Moran’s works – the Indian River Sturgeon Sculpture. This beautiful piece of art used to reside in Onaway (the “Sturgeon Capital of Michigan”) but came to Indian River a few years ago and is now proudly displayed at the intersection of Straits Highway and M-68.

The Indian River Sturgeon is 32 feet long and weighs in at just under four tons. According to Roadside America it debuted in Onaway’s 2017 Fourth of July parade and was then displayed at a vacant lot in town. We looked for it when we visited Awakon Park in 2021 but found only an empty base. We later learned that it had been moved to Indian River (just a few days earlier!), thanks to the work of the Burt Lake Preservation Association.

The sturgeon sculpture is now the focal point of a small plaza that also includes some interpretive signs about this amazing fish. You can learn about how long lake sturgeon have been living in Michigan, how they survived the last century after overfishing had nearly wiped them out, and why this “dinosaur fish” is so special.

This is a great addition to Indian River. You will find many fishing opportunities here as well as the beautiful Burt Lake State Park, the Cross in the Woods Catholic Shrine, and the North Central State Trail. If you want to see and touch a lake sturgeon in person, check out our feature about the LSSU Center for Freshwater Research and Education in Sault Ste. Marie.