The TARDIS replica first appeared beside East End Road on a sod farm more than a decade ago. Drivers passed it every day, others stopped to take pictures. In Doctor Who, it’s a time travel machine disguised as a blue police box, which were once ubiquitous in the United Kingdom.
It was built by Rosemary Reimann and her father Steven Wolfe in the 2010s. Rosemary made it for a contest the BBC held for Doctor Who fans. She said the challenge was to build a replica of the TARDIS and photograph it in an unusual place.
“And I was like, I can't think of any place particularly cool. And then I was thinking, the Time Bandit. I mean, the TARDIS is a space and time traveling machine. And then, you know, there's the time bandits and the Deadliest Catch,” Reimann said.
After the TARDIS made its debut aboard the famous vessel, it was placed near the road a few miles East of Homer on Reimann’s family farm. It stayed there for years and became part of Homer’s landscape.
In August of last year, after Reimann’s family had moved away, she posted online asking if anyone could take care of it.
“I put it on Homer Communications that my whole family was, nobody was going to be in Homer anymore, and I didn't want it just to crumble. And so many people in the community were like, we can take care of it,” Reimann said.
Local business owner Troy Laky adopted it. He displayed it outside his home and decorated it for holidays. He brought it to a local festival earlier this month in Karen Hornaday Park, along with his vendor booth.
“At the Renaissance Fair, we had hundreds of people stop and get their pictures taken, and many of them said, this is a great place for it. So I reached out to the city of Homer and spoke with a gentleman named Chad, and he loved the idea. ” Laky said.
Laky said local organizers are already planning community work days to paint and maintain the structure. He said he hopes the TARDIS continues to spark curiosity and bring people together, just like the show that inspired it.
“This is a time machine. This went through time and space and it gave joy, and you saw love. You saw terror. You saw a little horror in it. It was a mixture of everything on Doctor Who. And now the younger generation gets to learn, and hopefully they'll start watching it,” Laky said.
The TARDIS stands near the playground at Karen Hornaday Park, open to visitors year-round.
