DETROIT >> A new sculpture park in Detroit’s Midtown area is the work of an artist who turned a collection of overgrown vacant lots into a neatly kept, oversize outdoor gallery.

Robert Sestok’s project called “City Sculpture” includes steel artworks made from reclaimed and deconstructed materials, some weighing thousands of pounds.

“I’m the farmer,” Sestok told the Detroit News. “This is my field and my crops are growing.”

The sculpture park, which opened July 10, is located on several former vacant lots that Sestok bought. The park grew out of the 68-year-old’s desire to leave a permanent mark in the city as well as to find a home for several pieces of sculpture that Sestok had behind his house.

“I’ve wanted for a long time to do something that would be lasting,” he says. “Then my neighbor who used to cut the grass here died, so I started. I got the idea that this would be a good location for an art park, and who needed one more than me.”

The lots were overgrown with weeds and trees when he started. The park will be home to about 30 works of art. “It’s kind of like seeing work in a gallery, but there’s no walls,” Sestok told a Detroit television station.

The project was supported by Midtown Detroit Inc. and donations collected online.

“City Sculpture is phenomenal,” says Michelle Perron, director of the Center Galleries at the College for Creative Studies. “It’s fantastic and long overdue — both to have all of Bob’s art in one place, as well as creating this new gathering space.”

Park plans fastest wood coaster

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. >> Dollywood has announced a new $22 million ride that the theme park says will be the world’s fastest wooden roller coaster. The eastern Tennessee park says the Lightning Rod, themed after a 1950s-era hot rod, should be ready for visitors in March.

The Lighting Rod will launch riders up 20 stories from a standstill to 45 mph, and riders will get 20 seconds of airtime along the 3,800-foot track. The park says the coaster will hit a top speed of 73 mph on a 165-foot drop.

The $22 million price tag marks the largest single investment in the Dollywood Co.’s history.

Entertainer Dolly Parton opened Dollywood in 1986 in Pigeon Forge near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.