We are so excited, and we want to share this excitement with the entire community! Please come help us unveil the life-size, wooden sculpture of the “Natchez Indian,” from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at the ArtsNatchez Gallery located at 110 North Union St. in Natchez.

In addition to the unveiling, visitors can meet the artist, Alexander Brown; view a pictorial of the evolution of the sculpture; browse the works of local artists; and enjoy wine and cheese. The event is free and open to the public.

The sculpture, a life-size rendition of a Natchez Indian, is the fulfillment of a dream of me and my husband, Larry. We’ve always wanted an Indian for the store, but we could never find one representative of our own native American, the Natchez Indian.

That all changed when we met sculptor Alexander Brown, at a first-Friday opening at the Arts Natchez Gallery. Once we did some research — initially begun by our late son, Chris, and later continued by others including: Smokye Joe Frank, a well-known local historian; Dr. Ian Brown of the University of Alabama; Dr. Vincas Steponaitis of the University of North Carolina; and our own Park Service treasure, Jim Barnett — we presented our vision to the artist, and are now seeing that vision become a reality.

One other person we’d like to recognize is local resident Alfred Walker. Al purchased another of Brown’s large pieces, the “Panther,” and graciously left it at the Arts Natchez Gallery for others to enjoy. We kept going back to look at it, and it helped us make up our minds to commission Mr. Brown to sculpt our vision of the “Natchez Indian,” which we will be unveiling Friday night.

The “Natchez Indian,” who has yet to be named, will “live” in Holder’s Drugstore on Franklin Street in Downtown Natchez, where he will no doubt delight and intrigue locals and tourists alike.

Annette Holder is a downtown business owner.