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SALT LAKE CITY — If homes are judged by their character, this house has plenty — as in, plenty of characters.

Dolly Pitts began displaying stuffed animals around her yard to mark the 40th year she lived in her home near 1500 E. Crandall Ave.

Four years later, hundreds of toy creatures now perch throughout Pitts’ property, serving as an attraction to children and others who come to the area looking for pictures or the real story behind the yard.

“They mean as much to me as if they were alive,” Pitts said.

Pitts cares for the stuffed animals and repairs them when the weather has left them torn and tattered.

Many of the animals and stuffed dolls represent actual loved ones, including Pitts’ deceased husband, Bill.

“He had a funny nose like him and a mustache,” she quipped, pointing to one stuffed toy head on top of a fence. “He was a good husband. He really was.”

Still, no figure may be more central to Pitts’ display than her beloved pet pig, Pepperoni, who passed away in 2001.

“Pepperoni was the ‘Jazz pig’ on the outside of the Delta Center,” Pitts explained of her pet, which even drew news coverage during the Utah Jazz playoff runs of the 1990s.

A KSL-TV story from May 1997 captured the pig outside the Delta Center, now Vivint Smart Home Arena.

Pitts thumbed through pictures of the pig with Jazz great Karl Malone while acknowledging Pepperoni, or “Peppy,” was the main driver behind what she was doing with her yard.

“Every bit,” Pitts said softly, pointing to the sky. “I’m sure he’s up there watching me, saying ‘Way to go, mom!’”

Dolly Pitts began displaying stuffed animals around her yard to mark the 40th year she lived in her home near 1500 E. Crandall Ave. in Salt Lake City. Four years later, hundreds of toy creatures now perch throughout Pitts’ property, serving as an attraction to children and others who come to the area looking for pictures or the real story behind the yard. (Mike Bernardo, KSL TV)

Pitts acknowledges some neighbors like her yard better than others, but she said kids love it.

“My friends all think I’m crazy as a loon,” she said. “At least I enjoy life.”

Pitts said she gets satisfaction out of getting her friends and others to smile and laugh.

“If you can do that, then you’ve achieved something in this world,” Pitts said.

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