- April 29, 2024
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The Myakka Co-op, a group of local artisans and handcrafters committed to keeping the country spirit alive, has named Wallace the Warthog the unofficial mascot of Myakka City.
The warthog and his owner, Greg Para, gained worldwide attention on TikTok and quickly racked up over 120,000 followers. Now, Wallace is giving back to his community and can add 324 more fans to the list.
It was that number of students at Myakka City Elementary School who decorated over 300 cards in Wallace’s likeness to benefit their school. The co-op provided the white cards with printed outlines of Wallace, and the kids colored in and outside of the lines.
Their Christmas spirit had Wallace wearing Santa hats, making snowman friends and playing beside Christmas trees. In first grader Rosie Ortiz’s rendition, a rainbow sun shines over Wallace's head.
Before getting to work, the students learned more about their subject.
“We talked about the animal and what it would be like to raise an animal such as that. We talked about his crazy antics of escaping and going around the neighborhood,“ art teacher Stephanie Guevara said. “A couple of our students have heard about him and live in the area and have actually seen him.”
For those students unfamiliar with the local swine-lebrity, such as first grader Braelyn Rhodes, Guevara played one of Wallace’s YouTube videos.
“Whenever he was a baby, he was cute,” Rhodes said.
First grader Luis Posso said he likes how big Wallace is. His guess was 1,006 pounds. Owner Greg Para said Wallace’s actual weight is about 300 pounds.
Co-op chairs Lynn Meder and Carol Rubadou picked up the cards on Dec. 14 to bring them back to the co-op headquarters at the Silver Star East restaurant.
The cards will be traded for donations to the school starting at $2 per card.
The students used markers, crayons, colored pencils, chalk and paint stamps to decorate the cards within a week.
“It was a mess, but it was a beautiful, crazy mess. We had Wallace the Warthog magic in here.”
