A person driving in the northeast part of DeKalb cannot help but smile at the colorfully painted dolphin statue in Hopkins Park, 1403 Sycamore Road, that many regard as their old friend.

The dolphin statue stands by itself in the middle of a field that serves as a place for DeKalb and Sycamore residents to hold sporting events or take advantage of good weather.

The dolphin has attracted the attention of many DeKalb residents and NIU students because of its festive holiday attire.

“I’ve seen it with a Santa’s hat on for Christmas and even a St. Patty’s day hat,” said NIU ROTC cadet Roman Ortega, who has been jogging past the dolphin almost every day for two years now. “I always make sure the dolphin is in my route just to check if it’s wearing anything new.”

The origins of the dolphin statue stem to before 1978, when DeKalb Park District Superintendent Gordon Hadley discovered it in one of DeKalb’s older parks, Liberty Park.

“It was at the end of its life … kids were using it to break bottles on and things like that,” said Hadley.

Liberty Park was being remodeled and the dolphin went into storage for a couple of years.

So it wasn’t until about six years ago that Hadley had a former park employee and NIU student paint the dolphin and put it into Hopkins Park, its current location.

“I liked it so much, I just couldn’t throw it away,” Hadley said.

His choice to place the dolphin in the middle of an otherwise empty field and visible to Sycamore Road traffic is what made this statue popular.

“We must have gotten about 30 or 40 calls about it since it went up,” Hadley said. “People ask why it’s there and if we plan on building a water park.”

While the dolphin statue is isolated from Hopkins Park’s pool facilities, there are plans to construct a home for the dolphin in the near future.

The park plans to plant colorful flowers and grasses around the dolphin to resemble flowing water.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Jasper Thompson, an NIU student who sees the dolphin statue weekly on his way to Wal-Mart. “It will probably draw even more attention and will be something nice to look at.”