Westport Fork Found: Creator Speaks Out After Reuniting With His Giant Sculpture

In light of Westport's stolen giant fork, there is some good news and there is some bad news.

Let's cut to the chase: The fork has been found, so that is obviously the good news.

The Westport and Little Compton police departments located and returned the fork to Thomas Schmitt, the owner and artist behind the giant utensil, a longtime fixture at the fork of River and Old Harbor roads in Westport. When cops found it in Rhode Island, the 12-foot sculpture was on the ground and yet another fork in the road. Perhaps a cheesy attempt of a prank gone wrong.

Unfortunately, the fork has also been significantly damaged and will need some good old-fashioned T.L.C. Michael and Maddie spoke with Schmitt Friday morning to see how the fork is holding up.

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"Fantastic news," Schmitt said. "The fork has been found thanks to the great work of the Westport and Little Compton police departments. It was found at an intersection in Little Compton and it appears that the people who absconded with the fork wanted to move it to another fork in the road. I'm thrilled with the way things worked out. We were hopeful that it would just appear by itself, but the police departments were fantastic. I'm very impressed."

The condition of the wooden fork was not the best, but also could have been much worse. At this time, Schmitt is already cooking up a solution to keep the fork safe.

"It suffered from its ordeal. The folks weren't very kind to it," Schmitt said. "There are some repairs that will be required, but we're going about that. The fork itself is going to be reasonably easy to fix. We're also in talks with some folks to put in a security camera.

The buzz around town is curiosity over whether the fork will return to its original location or be held safe with Schmitt to avoid future vandalism. According to Schmitt, he simply "doesn't know yet" when the town staple will be upright again at its usual spot, but eventually it will see the light of day again.

"There are a couple of folks who have helped us with the installation before," Schmitt said. "I've reached out to them, but have not heard back yet."

At this time, the fork vandals are still unknown. If anyone knows anything or has any leads, contact Westport or Little Compton police.