When life gives you wara (rice straw), make… wara dinosaurs! For the 2015 Wara Art Festival, also known as Star Art Festival, the people near Niigata in the prefecture of the same name have built spectacular straw dinosaurs, insects, and the most fearsome predator of them all: a floating duckie.

Every year, students, artists, and volunteers celebrate the end of the local rice harvest by constructing these monumental and spectacular sculptures. Each artwork is built on a wooden frame, and builders attach straws to it like they do on thatched roofs.

Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of these unique sculptures can go to Uwasekigata Park in Niigata City’s Nishikan Ward, where they will remain until the beginning of November.

Image credits: yuko_vitzksp90

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