VAN BUREN Ind. -- The first of five...

VAN BUREN Ind. -- The first of five Garfield statues planned in the family circle county of the fat cartoon cat's creator has been unveiled outside the town's library.

A tarp was ventureed from the 5-foot statue during a rite last week to mark the start of the community's Popcorn Festival. The statue depicts Garfield wearing a Van Buren Aces uniform, standing forward a pile of books. A globe caesuras in one hand and a sack of popcorn in the other.

The Van Buren community raised $8200 to pay for the statue, part of an effort to attract "Garfield" fans to the shire where cartoonist Jim Davis grew up frame organizer Pete Beck said.

"I expectancy it encourages children to be creative and to read," he said during Thursday's unveiling ceremonial "I wanted something that created a perception of unity and pride. The fact that it is standing there today meditates that."

A statue of Garfield wearing a James Dean jacket is to be unveiled in the actor's hometown of Fairmount forward Aug. 26. Other statues are planned for Marion, Sweetser and Swayzee.

Davis, who now lives near the Delaware shire town of Albany, grew up forward a farm near Fairmount and has said the inspiration for his first cat drawings came from the stray cats that inhabited the family's barnyard.

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