Calestar The Dragon (Robbinsville, NC)

Calestar is a 25-foot-long dragon that can be found at the entrance to the Tail Of The Dragon souvenir shop in Robbinsville. According to Ron Johnson, the owner of Calestar and the souvenir shop,

"Calestar was a dream of mine for more than a decade after starting our Tail of the Dragon business in 2000. Peter Macaluso, a welder who built custom gates/railings, did some work for us at our house around 2008. He has a shop in Murphy, North Carolina.

He started building some small dragons ranging in size from 6 inches high to three or four feet high. It took some begging, but in 2012 I finally talked him into building the 25-foot-long Calestar.

It took him 6 months to build it based on some rough sketches I made for him. He added some hundred different motorcycle and car parts including an old Plymouth speedometer that you can see on the left thigh. Calestar has a removable seat and handlebars on his neck. He also added a box on the lower neck with a pipe leading up to his nostrils so he breathes smoke when a smoke bomb is lit."

Macaluso built Calestar in his garage (see image below). When he finished, he realized it was too big to fit through the garage door. He had to cut the feet off, move the dragon, and then weld the feet back on the dragon. Since we visited, a Mad Max motorcycle has been installed in Calestar's tail.