FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- It's a piece of art that was 10 years in the making, with just 50 others like it in the world.
Jungle Jim's in Fairfield unveiled a jelly bean portrait of founder Jim Bonaminio on Saturday, which also was National Jelly Bean Day.
The mural is so large it had to be delivered by truck from California. It arrived in December but was kept under wraps for Saturday's special event.
"It's beautiful," Bonamino exclaimed.
The store, on Route 4 near Holden Boulevard, wants customers to guess how many jelly beans make up the portrait. Lizz Jungkunz, Jungle Jim's candy manager and buyer, knows but won't spilling the beans until Monday when winners will be announced.
According to the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Candy Company’s website, the company has made large scale portraits of famous personalities and classic American subjects in mosaics of thousands of Jelly Belly jelly beans. Some of those personalities include President Ronald Reagan, Laurel & Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Saint Pope John Paul II, President Abraham Lincoln, James Dean, Elvis Presley, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William and Princess Kate, and the Beatles. Other icons include the Statue of Liberty, a California grizzly bear, the Mona Lisa, and Van Gogh’s "The Starry Night."
The company also set a Guinness World Record for largest candy art in 2010 by using 629,000 jelly beans for a 39-foot art piece that was on display at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, according to its website.
This story contains reporting from WCPO media partner the Journal-News.
