Great Wheat Sharks — Anne Melady, Dublin
Great Wheat Sharks
Anne Melady · Wheat field along Highway 8, west of Dublin · Ontario, Canada
Photo from Street Art Utopia’s archive, uploaded on 3 September 2021; no photographer is recorded. Full photograph shown.
In summer 2021 four black fins seemed to cruise through a wheat field outside Dublin, Ontario, and drivers stopped, or backed up, for a second look. They were plywood, and they were the idea of Anne Melady, who works the field. The display was dubbed the “great wheat sharks” in blogTO’s report. Farmtario · blogTO · FARM SHOW Checked
5 things to know
- Borrowed from a field in ErinMelady had seen someone with two fins in a field at Erin the year before. “It gave me a smile every time I went past,” she told Farmtario, and she spent the winter thinking about it. Farmtario · blogTO Checked
- A neighbourhood buildMelady drew the four fins on a quarter-inch sheet of plywood; one neighbour helped cut them out and another added a bracket that lets them turn in the wind. Farmtario Reported
- They move in the windFARM SHOW reports the fins were spray-painted black and fixed to the ground with half-inch electrical pipe brackets, so they “move some” when the wind blows. FARM SHOW · Farmtario Checked
- Fun for COVID times“We need some fun,” Melady told the London Free Press, as quoted by blogTO; to Farmtario she said, “We need them in COVID times.” blogTO · Farmtario Checked
- From field to riverAt wheat harvest Melady took the sharks out of the field and put them in a tributary of the Bayfield River behind her home, to give people more smiles. Farmtario Reported
Check-in guide
- 📍
- Former site: a wheat field outside Dublin, Ontario; blogTO places it along Highway 8, and a driver’s tweet it quotes says “just west of Dublin”. Farmtario · blogTO Checked
- 🌾
- Nothing to see there now: the fins came out of the field at the 2021 wheat harvest. Farmtario Reported
- 🧭
- The exact field, and where on the Bayfield River tributary the fins went, are Unconfirmed. The map button opens Dublin itself.
Sightings
- 20219 Jul
Driver’s photo tweet, via blogTO
- 202114 Jul
FCC Ontario photo, via blogTO
- 202116 Jul
Photo tweet, blogTO lead photo
- 202119 Jul
blogTO report
- 202121 Jul
Farmtario: moved after harvest
Green stamps are photographs posted on X on the dates shown and embedded in blogTO’s report. Amber stamps are publication dates. The status stamp follows Farmtario’s report of 21 July 2021 that the fins had been taken out of the field at harvest; the newest dated photograph is from 16 July 2021. The red stamp marks that report.
On the record
Where the idea came from
“I was up at Erin last year and saw someone with two fins in their field. It gave me a smile every time I went past.”
Anne Melady, on the display that inspired hers.
A double take on Highway 8
“I just about drove off the road when I saw them and then had to back up for a second look.”
A driver’s tweet of 9 July 2021, embedded in blogTO’s report.
Built to sway
“When the wind blows they do move some, adding to the illusion, says Melady.”
The magazine’s short item on the “Wheat Sharks”.
The facts
- Work
- Plywood shark fins set in a wheat field, called the “great wheat sharks” in blogTO’s report. blogTO · Farmtario · FARM SHOW Checked
- Maker
- Anne Melady. Farmtario · blogTO · FARM SHOW Checked Farmtario says she sharecrops the field with a farmer; blogTO calls her the tenant of the plot; FARM SHOW calls her a retired nurse and landowner. Conflicting
- Location
- A wheat field outside Dublin, Ontario. Farmtario · blogTO Checked Along Highway 8. blogTO Reported
- Date
- Summer 2021; the earliest dated photo in these sources was posted on 9 July 2021. blogTO · Farmtario · FARM SHOW Checked
- Inspiration
- A similar display with two fins near Erin, Ontario, the year before. Farmtario · blogTO Checked
- Sign
- The hand-lettered “Please do not feed the sharks” sign is visible in our archive photograph; none of the reports mentions it. Unconfirmed
- Status
- Gone 2021: removed from the field at the 2021 wheat harvest and set up in a tributary of the Bayfield River behind Melady’s home. Farmtario Reported Whether they are still there is Unconfirmed.
- Photograph
- Street Art Utopia archive image uploaded on 3 September 2021, photographer and capture date not recorded. Unconfirmed
Related
- Canada Made Me Look Twice (12 Photos): the SAU collection that includes the wheat sharks.
- Please Do Not Feed the Great Wheat Sharks: SAU’s own post on the field.
- The Smiley Face Forest by Hampton Lumber: another roadside joke grown in a field, with its own Artwork File.
All sources (3)
Reports from 2021
- Farmtario: Creating smiles with wheat field sharks, John Greig, 21 July 2021. Melady’s account, the Erin inspiration, four fins, the neighbours’ help and the move to the Bayfield River tributary.
- blogTO: Some mysterious shark fins have emerged in the middle of an Ontario wheat field, Becky Robertson, 19 July 2021. Highway 8, “great wheat sharks”, Melady’s quote to the London Free Press and dated tweets of 9, 14 and 16 July 2021.
- FARM SHOW Magazine: Wheat Sharks, 2021, volume 45, issue 6, page 5. Plywood spray-painted black, electrical pipe brackets, fins that move in the wind. Only the opening of the item is free to read.
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