More hippos are showing up in Hutto. The town has taken great pride in its mascot and the city is hoping to bank on this stampede of hippos coming to town.
Mayor Mike Fowler can't hold the excitement about the big shipment of concrete hippos.
"We've got 48 hippos coming in today from Odem, Texas," he said. "They started multiplying down in Odem, and there's such an overage they had to bring them to Hutto."
Thirty-eight of them stand two-and-a-half feet tall and weigh more than 700 pounds. Ten others are a smaller version weighing in at 235 pounds.
"To pick them up, and move them by hand, well, the football team won't be stealing them," Hippo mover J.R. Rosenow said.
"We want to promote our community in a way that we are already well-known for," Fowler said.
The hippo is already everywhere in Hutto, but the city is planning on getting one that is 20 feet high. The city claims it'd be the biggest one in the world.
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Hutto hippos
An escaped circus hippo in the early 20th century became the town's mascot.
 
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"We are very proud to have them. We got them in support of the community," Heather Guardiola, of Mother's Choice Daycare, said.
The community and its businesses hope the hippos can help support them.
"It might be something that is entertaining, and fun if they are here. I know the kids like to play on the big hippo in downtown," business owner Josh Richards said.
It's not known how much of an economic stimulus the hippos will be for the city. But, as lore has it, a hippo at the turn of the 20th century escaped from a circus train. Hutto city leaders hope the legend grows into one huge tourist trap.
A painting contest is scheduled in the next coming weeks. School children and businesses will paint the hippos with their own design.
