A horse made of scrap metal pulls the weight of the world—literally—at the corner of East 13th and Holland in Erie, where past and present collide in a sculpture that’s as heavy with symbolism as it is with steel.

“Fruits of Labor,” a towering 10-by-20-foot public artwork, anchors the city’s eastside with a surreal tribute to Erie’s transformation from farmland to factory floor. Created in 2016 by artists Ron Bayuzick, Tom Ferraro, Ed Grout, and students from the Erie County Technical School, the piece features a massive globe being dragged by a horse forged from recycled industrial scrap. It’s the second installment in Erie Arts & Culture’s “Arts and Industry” series, and it stands on the very ground where a factory once churned out bedsprings and rat traps.

The sculpture’s message is layered: a nod to the grit of Erie’s laborers, a meditation on the burden of progress, and a celebration of the city’s industrial roots. The horse—crafted from castoff parts of local manufacturing plants—embodies the muscle behind Erie’s rise, while the globe hints at the global reach of its industry. It’s a piece that doesn’t just sit pretty; it pulls you in, asking you to consider what we’ve built, what we’ve lost, and what we carry forward.