A giant lit up in front of the Dan’l Webster Inn on Main Street
Glass artist and sculptor Michael Magyar remembers when his light sculptures started growing in popularity many years ago. “In the beginning, it was so exciting. It was so dark in Sandwich in the winter, and you’d see a light ahead when you’re driving down the road,” he said. Then all of a sudden, it would be there: a massive figure, ranging from about 12 to 20-plus feet tall, illuminated by colorful holiday lights. Now beloved by residents of Sandwich and beyond, the sculptures are affectionately known as “The Sandwich Giants.”
Mr. Magyar and his wife, Keiko Magyar, opened The Glass Studio on Cape Cod on Route 6A in East Sandwich 30 years ago. Around 1996, the original Giant took shape: a glassblower outside the studio, which is still displayed every winter. Five years later, Mr. Magyar created a sculpture of Ted Williams for a former baseball card shop in town. A few years later came the colonial man outside Titcomb’s Bookshop, an enlarged version of the statue that stands beside it.
Realizing the potential for his work, Mr. Magyar started knocking on doors. “At that point I was essentially giving them away,” he said, remembering a damselfly sculpture he traded one client, an artist, for a painting. Then there was a bee for the old Bee-Hive Tavern, a chef for a former gourmet food shop. Several of the businesses that owned the oldest Giants have closed, and as a result, those sculptures have been given to new owners and relocated. From year to year, the artist notices them popping up in new spots across the Cape.
In 2007, Sandwich High School suffered back-to-back tragedies: the deaths of two students, Maggie Smillie and Jeff Hayes, in one year. Mr. Magyar subsequently created two angels in their honor that were unveiled downtown. Each playing a trumpet, they offered a sense of hope for those grieving the loss of two bright lights in the Sandwich community. The cause was a special one for Mr. Magyar, whose daughter, Jessie, was a close friend of Maggie. “I have a drawing of it and a date in my big book,” he said.
A dragon on Tupper Road, one of the Sandwich Giants lit up around town.
The “big book” is where each Giant begins: with a sketch that is approved by Mr. Magyar’s clients or altered to their liking, prior to welding. In this way, Mr. Magyar holds a sort of record of Sandwich history: dates of sculptures created for Sandwich shops and restaurants, some closed or relocated, and commissions for residents who moved or passed their Giants to new owners.
To date, Mr. Magyar said, there are more than 130 sculptures. The majority are in Sandwich, but several are sprinkled across the Cape. This season, locals can expect a few new additions: a lighthouse near Willow Street in Barnstable, a palm tree in the Town Neck area of Sandwich and a man with a top hat toasting for the Sagamore Inn. “It’s really exciting. I love designing them,” he said, adding that he enjoys welding them, too, but there is a lot of cleanup: Each burr must be grinded so that the sculpture is totally clean and smooth when a client receives it.
A firefighter is lit up in front of Sandwich Fire Station with a lighted fire truck behind him.
Some Giants take as long as a week to complete, Mr. Magyar said, and since his work is completed outside, it often depends on the weather. When he crafted a sculpture of whales for the Sturgis Library, he had to move the sculpture in two parts due to its size and then weld them together on location. They are called Giants for a reason—but some are especially large. Referring to a lighthouse he made for one First Night Sandwich, Mr. Magyar said, “That was 23 feet tall. It was on Shawme Pond. It had a great reflection.”
Even as the collection has grown, the Giants have yet to lose their charm. Every year, Cape residents and visitors alike travel through town to marvel at the bright figures, in every shape and color, lighting the winter night. Reflecting on how it all started, Mr. Magyar said he never imagined what his idea would become. “It’s been over 20 years I’ve been working on these,” he said. “With all the negative things in the world, between the politics and the war, it’s just a lot of stress…so I think it’s a really positive thing and it makes people happy. It’s free [to see the Giants], and anyone can enjoy it. I feel grateful that it just happened.”