DETROIT LAKES — Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo's "Trolls in DL" will be celebrating their first year in Detroit Lakes next month.
In the year since Dambo brought his troll magic to the lakes area, the gentle giants known as Alexa, Barefoot Frida, Ronny Funny Face, Long Leif and Jacob Everear — as well as the elusive Golden Rabbit — have drawn visitors from all over the U.S. (and beyond), prompting media coverage from the likes of Minnesota Public Radio, "CBS This Morning," USA Today and most recently, a mention in TIME's 2025 list of "World's Greatest Places."
"It's been delightful," says Amy Stoller Stearns, executive director of Project 412 — the nonprofit organization responsible for bringing Dambo and his troll builders to Detroit Lakes in 2024. "We knew it would be big, but it's exceeded even our wildest imagination."
An estimated 60,000 visitors viewed "Alexa's Elixir" — which is obviously the most visible of the sculptures, located in the heart of Detroit Lakes' City Park — in just the first three months after its opening, she noted. Many, many thousands of troll-hunters have visited the other sites as well, often staying in the community for two to three days or more to accomplish the feat of seeing them all.
To give these visitors some mementos to take home with them, Stearns said, they have created some unique Trolls in DL merchandise, including shirts highlighting each of the trolls and the Golden Rabbit — the shirts are even "repurposed," in a nod to Dambo's belief in the importance of reducing waste and recycling or reusing materials whenever possible.
Trolls in DL merchandise are available at the Becker County Museum and Project 412's offices in the adjacent Historic Holmes Theatre as well as at Bluebird Books in downtown Detroit Lakes and the new Daytripper Scoops and Sips at Detroit Mountain Recreation Area, which is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday this summer (one of the trolls, Long Leif, makes his home on the mountain).
And while the number of troll hunters did slow a bit during the winter months, as expected, access to the Trolls in DL has been, and will be open year-round, Stearns said — save for a few weeks in November, when the installation was briefly closed to the public (and will be again in future years) due to safety concerns during the Minnesota deer hunting season.
"While the trails leading up to the trolls aren't maintained in winter," Stearns said, "you can still get to them, whether it's on foot or on skis — some people have even snowshoed in!"
She added that she had visited the trolls herself this past winter, and it was a fun experience. There are still a few finishing touches planned for the trolls this summer, Stearns hinted, including some new benches — created by local students — that will be installed on the trails leading to the trolls.
ADVERTISEMENT
Project 412 has a few new surprises in store this summer as well, Stearns hinted, such as a 50-piece traveling art exhibition by Indiana artist Charley Harper that will be brought to Detroit Lakes by the Museum de Toulouse in Toulouse, France. Birds are heavily featured in Harper's work, which ties in nicely with Dambo's exhibition, she said.
A-hunting we will go ... for trolls, that is
To accommodate the steady stream of visitors, there are three different ways to enjoy "troll hunting," Stearns said. "You can do the treasure hunt, you can go look them up online at TrollsDL.com , or you can do geocaching."
For those who are impatient with riddles and scavenger hunts, or limited on time to explore, the simplest and quickest way to find the trolls is online, she said. The website at TrollsDL.com has photos of each of the nine installations that you can click on to find their exact geographic location (though there are only hints provided for the Golden Rabbit's home, which remains hidden). You can also find information there on where to park, how accessible each site is for the mobility-challenged, visiting hours, restroom locations, etc.
In addition, the website also has a downloadable "story map" that treasure hunters can use to assist in their quest for the trolls — paper copies of the map are available at the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce as well, Stearns said.
The treasure-hunting option is for those who want the adventure of discovering each troll the old-fashioned way, with clues and a treasure map. Starting with the "Alexa's Elixir" installation at the Detroit Lakes City Park, you can search Alexa's potion book for the clues needed to find four of her troll friends, in riddle form, Stearns explained. And once you have found them all, you can hunt the elusive Golden Rabbit.
Each of the five trolls hiding in the woods of Detroit Lakes and Frazee is wearing a necklace that contains a symbol. Three additional symbols can be found on the "magic mirrors," or "troll portals" that Dambo installed at locations in Detroit Lakes, Perham and Fargo; each of the eight symbols has a corresponding letter in the troll alphabet, which you can also find in Alexa's book. (Stearns noted that it's recommended to take plenty of photos of the pages in Alexa's book, to consult while deciphering the symbols.)
When put in the right order, the eight decoded letters reveal the location of the most carefully hidden part of Dambo's art installation: The Golden Rabbit.
ADVERTISEMENT
Along the way to each of the trolls, the magic mirrors, and the rabbit's secret hiding place, you'll find plenty of purple and yellow bird houses — another of Dambo's favorite artistic subjects, Stearns noted, though these were mostly built by Detroit Lakes-area volunteers — scattered randomly along the trail to show that you're on the right track.
"Thomas believes that where there are birds, it's a good place for humans too," Stearns said, adding that birdhouses were also part of the ingredients for Alexa's magical elixir, which is why her arm is shown reaching for one from each of the magic portals.
The most technologically advanced addition to the troll-hunters' tool kit, Stearns said, is geocaching. Through a partnership with the Seattle-based Geocaching.com, users of the popular web application can track "virtual geocaches" at each of the five troll locations, as well as the "super-secret" site of the Golden Rabbit.
St. Cloud native Gia Rassier, who has strong family ties to the lakes area, spent some time in Detroit Lakes last summer setting up the virtual geocaches, which she describes as being "about discovering a location rather than a container. Unlike other types of physical geocaches that can be placed by any geocacher, virtuals are a special legacy cache type that can only be hidden under certain circumstances."
"I had the chance to visit Detroit Lakes last June while the trolls were arriving in Detroit Lakes — I believe the Dambo team prefers the term 'arriving' rather than 'being built' or 'constructed,' as it adds to the sense of fun and wonder — and then again in September. It was such a fun and special experience to meet the trolls, and some of the Project 412 team, in person!"
As for how she ended up working for Geocaching, Rassier said it was "through my love of the game! I helped place a GeoTou r in Fargo-Moorhead. That led to conversations with the team at Geocaching HQ, and eventually, a job opportunity."
Her first exposure to Dambo's trolls was in Seattle, Rassier said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"As part of the business development team at Geocaching HQ, I had the opportunity to work on a project called Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King," she said.
This ambitious public art project featured six of Dambo's giant hand-built troll sculptures.
"Through that project, I got to meet the Northwest Trolls — Ole Bolle, Pia the Peacekeeper, Bruun Idun, Jakob Two Trees, Frankie Feetsplinters and Oscar the Bird King," Rassier said. "I worked with (project sponsor) Scan Design Foundation and the hosts of each troll to place a virtual cache and an adventure lab at each location.
"Fidelma McGinn from Scan Design introduced me to Amy and the Project 412 team. The connection was instant, and we all saw the potential of bringing geocaching to the Trolls in DL project!"
The Trust Project
