SPRINGFIELD - Rather than rubbing Lincoln's nose for good luck, tourists who visited Taylorville's folk art exhibit in Springfield on Tuesday might have felt the urge to take a bite.

During the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum opening Saturday through Tuesday, 24 Taylorville originals were showcased in a vacant store in downtown Springfield.

The favorite attraction was a 35-pound milk chocolate replica of the 16th president's head.

"The big question is not whether someone is going to rub his nose but rather is someone going to bite his nose?" questioned Marla Brotherton, owner of In Good Taste in Taylorville.

The part novelty part tempting treat was made by Brotherton and her husband with the help of Decatur sculptor John McClarey's Lincoln mold.

"The people of Taylorville understand that Lincoln art can take many forms," McClarey said. "I think they just thought there was a niche here to present Lincoln perhaps in a different way."

Brotherton said it took three tries and a few weeks work to get the sculpture just right.

"It was kind of heartbreaking to have to start over," Brotherton said. "We haven't done anything this big."

Although Brotherton donated miniature chocolates of the former president, the large effigy will remain on display in her Taylorville shop. The color will be kept fresh by a chocolate wash recipe.

The displays included a collaboration of Taylorville artists and community members alike.

Carol Alexander, president of the Taylorville Tourism Council, was given a little more than a month to pull a Lincoln art exhibit together.

"We just kind of asked around the community. Not one person said no, they all stepped up to the plate," she said. Local venues, residents and the junior high school created novelty sculptures and paintings of Lincoln.

Bradon Gatton, a Taylorville artist, donated an imitation of Lincoln's dog Fido in hopes people will recognize Taylorville's uniqueness.

"We are a small town but check us out sometime," he said. Gatton had fewer than 14 hours to complete Fido, a tail-wagging dog made entirely out of railroad spikes.

John Matheny donated several Lincoln statues created from a million sweet gum ball tree seeds. He held the seeds together with liquid nails.

"They (sweet gum balls) are kind of nature's biggest nuisance," Alexander said. But Matheny saw them as art and his life-size Lincoln look-alikes are the only sweet gum ball artifacts in the nation.

"We think we can have something that no other town offers, we know we do. And so that can set us apart," Alexander said, noting she hopes to continue displaying the work either back home or on the road.

Some guests of the showcase included former Gov. Jim Edgar as well as tourists from Korea, Sweden and the Ukraine.

"The Taylorville artistry, we hope, is going to go all over the country," Alexander said. Additionally, we're going to be the people's destination."

Shelby Sebens can be reached at shelby.sebens@;lee.net or 789-0865.