If you walk the woodland trails at The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, New York, this year, you’ll run into six enormous wooden trolls hiding among the pines. They’re part of TROLLS: Save the Humans, a touring exhibit by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, on view June 1 through October 31, 2026, and it’s the first time his work has ever landed in New York State.
What Is “TROLLS: Save the Humans”?
As part of its 20th anniversary celebration, The Wild Center welcomed TROLLS: Save the Humans, a monumental outdoor exhibition by Danish recycling artist Thomas Dambo, featuring six of his signature folklore-inspired troll sculptures built from reclaimed materials. These aren’t cute garden gnomes. They’re genuinely massive, and every one of them started life as trash — old pallets, fence boards, scrap lumber, whatever Dambo and his crew could rescue before it hit a landfill. Like many of Dambo’s sculptures, each troll has been created from reclaimed wood, reflecting his vision to create art that inspires people to explore nature while showing that trash can be turned into something beautiful.
The Wild Center didn’t just stumble into this. The museum had been on a waitlist for Dambo’s work for eight years before the exhibition finally arrived. That patience is paying off — the Wild Center expects a 40 to 50 percent visitor increase with a multimillion-dollar economic impact on the area, and social media traffic jumped 3,000 percent in the month after the trolls were announced.
Meet the Six Trolls
Every troll on the property has its own name, personality, and job. The lineup includes Basse Buller the Painting Troll, Ibbi Pip the Birdhouse Troll, Kamma Can the Treasure Troll, Ronja Redeye the Speaker Troll, Rosa Sunfinger the Botanical Troll, and Sofus Lotus the Listening Troll. You’ll meet Ronja first — she’s the Speaker Troll stationed near the entrance, and at roughly three times the height of an average adult, she stands around 15 feet tall. That’s a good preview of scale for the rest of the walk.
All six are silent, gentle giants, each with a name and a natural focus of its own, spread across the Wild Center’s 115 acres. Some lean into art, some into sound, some into plants — it’s less a single story and more like six small folktales scattered through the woods, each waiting for you to stumble onto it.
Why Trolls, and Why Here?
Dambo’s trolls always carry a message, and this batch is no exception. The exhibit features six folklore-inspired activist trolls that have come to teach humans how to rediscover nature and to inspire humans to be good stewards of the earth. It’s a fitting match. The Wild Center already builds its whole identity around getting people to slow down and pay attention to the natural world, so bringing in giant recycled-wood guardians of the forest wasn’t exactly a stretch.
Museum staff put it simply. Marketing director Nick Gunn said Dambo’s message of sustainability overlaps beautifully with what the Wild Center does, along with kids playing outside in make-believe and imagination. The trolls aren’t roped off behind glass, either — they’re hidden in various locations across the campus for people to find, with a scavenger-hunt component where visitors get a booklet to check them off as they go.
How Long Is the Walk?
Don’t expect to knock this out in ten minutes. The six sculptures are spread throughout the campus, and the full route covers approximately two miles, encouraging visitors to explore sections of the Wild Center they might otherwise overlook. Give yourself a couple of hours if you want to actually stop, read the signage, and let kids climb around (safely) near each figure. The terrain is gentle by Adirondack standards — this is a nature-center walk, not a High Peaks slog — so it works for families with young kids as well as grandparents.
While you’re there, don’t skip the rest of the grounds. Beyond the trolls, you can walk woodland trails, canoe the river with a guide, explore Wild Walk, or visit the Pines Play Area, all across 115 acres, including a trail of bridges that climbs up into the treetops of the Adirondack forest.
Best Times to Visit and How to Beat the Crowds
This exhibit is a genuine hit, and the crowds reflect it. If you can, aim for a weekday afternoon. Visiting later in the day or on a weekday means lighter crowds, and during July and August the Wild Center stays open until 7:00 p.m., giving you more time to explore while avoiding the busiest hours. If the main lot fills up, don’t panic — overflow parking opens at LP Quinn Elementary School on non-school days once the main and meadow lots are full, and staff will direct you from there.
As for regular hours, the Wild Center runs Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. early in the season, opens daily starting Memorial Day weekend, and extends to 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through July and August.
Take the Hunt Beyond the Museum
The trolls don’t stay contained to Wild Center property. Visitors can also take part in the Adirondack Troll Adventure, a digital scavenger hunt where smaller hidden trolls are tucked into local businesses, shops, restaurants, and attractions throughout the Tupper Lake region — follow the digital passport map, check in at Troll Stops, and complete six of them to earn a themed reward. It’s a smart way to pull visitors into downtown Tupper Lake, and honestly, it’s just fun to turn a whole town into part of the game.
If you want to hear straight from the source, mark your calendar. You can meet the artist behind the trolls on September 10 at the Tupper Lake Bandshell at Flanders Park, where Dambo will share stories from his creative journey and what it takes to bring trolls to communities around the world, with limited lawn tickets available for $15 each.
Will Any Trolls Stay Permanently?
Here’s the bittersweet part: these six are travelers, and eventually they’ll move on to their next city. But the Wild Center has a plan to keep the magic going. While the traveling trolls will only be there for a short time, the Wild Center has the chance to welcome a new troll, one who will stay and make a home there permanently. It would be the Wild Center’s very own — and the first-ever — wild troll to call New York home. If that project comes together, Tupper Lake goes from a temporary stop on Dambo’s world map to a permanent one.
Planning Your Visit
- Where: The Wild Center, Tupper Lake, NY, in the Adirondacks
- When: June 1 through October 31, 2026
- Admission: The troll exhibit is included with general Wild Center admission
- Distance: Roughly two miles round trip to see all six trolls
- Tip: Go on a weekday afternoon, and check overflow parking signs in July and August
Whether or not you’re a Dambo completist chasing his 150-plus trolls around the globe, this one’s worth the drive into the Adirondacks. It’s rare to get a nature center, a real conservation mission, and a genuinely gorgeous piece of folk art all wrapped into one walk in the woods — and rarer still to get it somewhere as quietly beautiful as Tupper Lake.
NOTE TO THE ADVENTURER: This guide is meant to spark curiosity for what lies beyond the horizon — not to serve as a guarantee. Roads fall into disrepair, buildings are torn down and rebuilt, and properties change hands; 'tis your responsibility to do your own research before setting out. Always heed local and regional law, and always respect ground that isn't your own. Take every entry here as a suggestion, not a decree. This guide's contents were gathered with the aid of artificial intelligence, and like any scout, it will from time to time lead you astray. You assume all risk in following its counsel, and neither this blog nor its author is liable for any loss, injury, or misfortune that results.
