Creator works to repair Raleigh acorn as its New Year debut looms

The artist behind the famed Raleigh acorn was working Friday to make sure it was ready for its big midnight Sunday debut to ring in the New Year.

David Benson created the acorn in 1991, and he was busy two days before it would be pressed into service to make sure it would shine. The acorn was dropped several days ago while it was being transported for a cleaning, causing major structural damage.

Benson said he has spent about 60 hours to repair the acorn, but he said it will be ready for First Night Raleigh.

"I had to fix it," he said. "I put some new panels on it (and) did some other stuff. It took a lot of time, and I only had a couple of weeks to do it, so I've been on a (time) crunch for the last two weeks."

The city rings in the New Year with activities for First Night Raleigh, which will include performances, workshops and other events to celebrate the start of 2018.