Do you recall the 40,000 piece puzzle begun by The Mayflower Community resident, John Noer, in February 2019? John just finished the 9th of 10 frames—“Ariel the Little Mermaid.” The 10-frame Disney characters puzzle produced by Ravensburger has been in process in the Mayflower Basement Craft Room in sections.
John has completed nine of the frames and stored them in preparation for assemblage when the last frame is complete. At that time, there is likely to be a public display home in the Grinnell community, the arrangements for which are not finalized.
The 6’ x 22’ Ravensburger stumper was delivered to the Mayflower Edwards building in a 3’ x 1’ box containing 10 pouches of puzzle pieces. Each pouch was the makings of one vivid Disney scene and characters.
The Ravensburger Publishing House was founded in Ravensburg, Germany in 1884 with the production of the game, “A Trip Around the World.” Today, the company has global sales of about $600 million and has been trying to meet the sudden blizzard of orders as social-distancing measures have limited the number it is able to produce in its factory.
For each frame, John works on two side-by-side six-foot tables. When he empties a bag, he scoops up pieces with a spatula and spreads them out by color and edge shape. The last and final frame will be “Peter Pan.”
We are excitedly waiting. Of course, “Ariel” took four months, so by the time you see the entire finished puzzle you will probably have had a COVID-19 vaccine!
—Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director
