ELMO, Texas — The buzz in one Kaufman County town is all about a new resident that moved in earlier this month, and it’s out of this world.
Or at least it looks like it is.
“It’s like one of the biggest things in Elmo besides the water tower,” said Judy Butler, an employee at The Bee Mart.
People driving down a rural stretch of Texas Highway 80 through Elmo, about 40 miles east of Dallas, are pumping the brakes to take pictures. Not of the high gas prices, but a whopping 20-foot Transformer Bumblebee lookalike that now stands outside The Bee Mart.
Yes, The Bee Mart.
“Some days our parking lot’s just full, you can’t even find a place to park out there because there’s so many people,” Butler said.
One woman took her kids to see the Autobot at his permanent home, off the Decepticons’ radar.
“I never expected him to be that big, but he’s huge!” said Candice Cabaniss, a visitor to Elmo.
Five days a week, Judy Butler gets a front row seat.
“We even had one guy bring a ladder and he just wanted to put the ladder beside it so he could take a picture,” Butler said.
So many people are visiting, sales have doubled at The Bee Mart. The view for Buter doesn’t get old.
“Oh no, no! I think it’s kind of interesting. I just sit here looking at it trying to figure out how they made that out of car parts,” Butler said.
The Transformer replica was a 4-year project that was designed and constructed in China. People can see Bumblebee’s eyes light up blue when it’s dark outside.
The big question: why here? It’s puzzled a lot of visitors who never expected it to leave Cybertron for Texas.
“Not in Elmo, no, never,” Cabaniss said.
“Oh heck no, not a little town like this. I expect this in Dallas or Fort Worth,” said Kirk Short, an Elmo visitor.
Turns out, the owner of The Bee Mart is a big fan. Inside the store, you’ll find a Transformer menu featuring smash burgers that with its black and yellow dining room.
“I think it’s amazing, like a little town like this has something cool,” Short said.
The Bumblebee lookalike is no Optimus Prime, but he’s turned The Bee Mart into a prime destination in North Texas.