♪♪ [Thomas Dambo] The little humans called the giant trolls the Ferryman.

It carried them across the ocean to the prairieland.

At home, they had their differences, but now they cherished them because they were in the boat together to the very end.

♪♪ (nature sounds) [Thomas Dambo] The troll I am making here is called a Fjord Ferryman.

That is actually a word that origins from the Vikings and from Nordic culture.

[Charity Nebbe] Since 2014, from forest to desert, mountain to prairie, artist Thomas Dambo has traveled the globe building nearly 200 giant troll sculptures.

Now, one of his creations calls Elk Horn home.

♪♪ [Amelia Juhl] The Danish Villages of Iowa, Elk Horn and Kimballton, are home to the largest rural population of Danes in the United States.

The Danish culture just thrived here.

We're just continuing to grow and build on our Danish culture and our heritage.

[Thomas Dambo] I just thought that it would be nice to tie it into the Danish settler history here because Elk Horn is a city that comes from Danish settlement.

[Amelia Juhl] It has been such a wonderful experience to witness these people coming together to volunteer and spend their time working on this installation.

We've had over 80 volunteers.

People just stop by and they'll come in and say, may I place a screw in this troll?

May I nail this clap board on?

And it's just this wonderful way to engage and re-engage with our audience and invite them to help continue telling this story of immigration and of our heritage.

[Thomas Dambo] The local community has been great of helping us.

They have helped us collect all different types of leftover and recycled materials and fallen trees and everything we have used for the material to build the actual sculpture.

I make recycled art because our world is drowning in trash, while it is running out of resources, so we need to see the solution is that our trash is a resource.

♪♪ [Thomas Dambo] It just came natural to me that I should build big wooden trolls and hide them in nature and then write stories about them protecting the world.

♪♪ [Amelia Juhl] Thomas Dambo's trolls are playful and whimsical.

They represent guardians of nature.

♪♪ [Thomas Dambo] Fjord Ferryman is ferrying the Danish settlers that sailed across the big sea and came over here.

♪♪ [Amelia Juhl] I see this as the next Danish immigrant in our town.

The opportunity to express one's heritage and to tell one's stories of immigration is so important.

We all come from these different places and have these different experiences and backgrounds and that is what makes America beautiful.

♪♪