Willie Walleye is the 40-foot fiberglass walleye standing watch over Willie Walleye Park along Highway 11 in downtown Baudette, on a small green at the corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue NE overlooking Baudette Bay and the Rainy River. Baudette markets itself as the Walleye Capital of the World, a claim disputed by Garrison and Mille Lacs, but the statue is unambiguous: it is the largest walleye sculpture in the world.
The original was dedicated June 19 and 20, 1959, during the inaugural Walleye Days festival. It was a community build led by Arnold Lund, who proposed the idea after seeing a mounted walleye in a local hardware store. Al Anderson drew up the blueprints. Walter Olson, his son David Olson, and Luvern Larson welded the steel and wire-mesh frame. George Ayotte and Russell Halvorson plastered it. Shirley Olson and Ruth Lyons laid down the fiberglass skin. Dick Wilson painted it. The name was chosen by public ballot in the Baudette Region newspaper.
After 59 Minnesota winters, the original was retired. The current statue, an all-fiberglass replica fabricated in Sparta, Wisconsin, was installed and dedicated in July 2018 as a community-funded conservation project.
The park is open to the public 24 hours a day with no admission charge. There is on-street parking along Main, benches, and open grass for picnicking. The annual Willie Walleye Day festival, held the first week of June, brings a 5K run, food vendors, crafts, and a community gathering to the park.
