FRIDGEHENGE
Cool tribute to summer solstice
As thousands flocked to Stonehenge for the summer solstice at the weekend, a similar monument was attracting attention 120 miles away in Maidstone.
And while it might not hold the historical significance of its West Country cousin, the pas- tiche of prehistoric won- der created out of fridges proved to be a magnet for admirers.
The modern-day monument appeared on the corner of Woodville Road and Upper Stone Street on Saturday morning.
While more than 20,000 travelled to Salisbury Plain, a somewhat more modest crowd of around 20 gathered at the ring of appliances as the sun came up on Sunday morning.
The tongue-in-cheek tribute was constructed by the owners of white goods store Extra Mile, Kevin Wildeman and Paul Stone, who worked from 3am until 6am on the ambitious project, bolting together 30 fridges in the process.
Mr Wildeman, 53, said: “I saw the fridges lying about and thought it would be a good idea given the solstice was coming.
“It took about three hours and I had to ask Paul for help as it was quite hard work.”
He added: “The first person who walked past said it was an eyesore but everyone else has been really positive.” An employee of The Clutter Box, a sec second-hand store based underneath Extra Mile, said: “Loads of people have stopped and had their pic pictures taken with it and apparently peo people were even cele celebrating the solstice here earlier.” The summer solstice is the long longest day of the year and normally falls around June 21.
Its name refers to the moment the sun stands still, which at Stonehenge results in the shadow cast from the central altar stone aligning with that of the heel stone, or sacrifice stone.
It is believed to have been an important religious site 4,000 years ago, although recent pagan-based celebrations only began in the 1900s.
It is not the first time refriger- ators have been used in such a creative way. A huge version of the Upper Stone Street megaliths stood for more than a decade just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, before finally being dismantled in 2007 following a large storm.
The structure was an art project made as a comment on consumer culture.