Dambo trolls give NC Arboretum in Asheville ‘unprecedented’ boost

The NC Arboretum says that more than 100,000 visitors have come to the Asheville site to get a glimpse of the world-famous Dambo trolls. Here’s how to find them.

Cousins Linda Silber and MaryJo Marciniak took turns taking each other’s photos next to the fantastic creatures. They might consider themselves among the most passionate fans of the trolls, which are made by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo.

“I am a true troll hunter,” Silber said, noting her visits to Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin to see the wooden creatures.

“And she’s recruited me,” Marciniak laughed.

The two had flown — Silber from Ormand Beach, Florida, and Marcinaik from West Branch, Michigan — to North Carolina for a week of visiting each other, friends, family and, also, the many Dambo trolls hiding across the state. During their five day visit, they stopped in Charlotte, High Point and Raleigh to see the monsters, before making their way west to Asheville, visiting the Biltmore, then, finally, catching another 12 at the North Carolina Arboretum.

Video: Visiting the Dambo trolls in NC and talking about neurodiversity

They aren’t the only ones making the pilgrimage.

With their massive nets, goofy smiles and poignant observations of the world, the 12 fantastic sculptures installed as part of Thomas Dambo’s “Trolls: A Field Study” have been visiting the North Carolina Arboretum since mid-November. It’s been the most successful visiting exhibit in the 434-acre Arboretum’s history.

Approximately 100,843 people have visited the Arboretum since “Trolls” opened at the 434-acre state tree museum, Executive Director Drake Fowler told the Citizen Times, breaking pretty much every visitation record the Arboretum has set in its 40-year history. With roughly 12,000 visiting in the same period of time in most years, the Arboretum is running at roughly 800% of its usual visitation, Fowler said.

“We were planning for high visitation, but this is just unprecedented,” Fowler said. The Arboretum had also renewed or created over 3,000 memberships since the trolls were installed.

Visitors gather near one of the troll sculptures from “Trolls: A Field Study,” an interactive exhibit by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, at the North Carolina Arboretum on Jan. 5, 2026. The exhibit remains on view through Feb. 17. (USA Today via Reuters)

Many of Dambo’s trolls are rooted in the artist’s “recycle activism.” Made out of reclaimed wood, the trolls — with names like Taks, Larke and Valle — are designed to reflect an element of humanity or an observation about modern life. With over 100 trolls installed across the world, they have become a global phenomenon that have attracted thousands of “troll hunters” to seek them out.

Visitors like Silber and Marcinaik have taken flights to see them. Others have driven over nine hours, with roughly 40% of visitors coming from out of town, Fowler said. The Arboretum exhibit is made up of smaller “baby trolls,” which only range between 7 to 9 feet tall. Dambo’s biggest trolls are upwards of 36 feet in height.

At a brisk but patient pace, a visitor could see all 12 trolls, which are set to leave the Arboretum after Feb. 17, in about an hour and a half.

‘Lightning in a bottle’

The exhibit was the product of collaboration between Explore Asheville, which is Buncombe County’s marketing agency, and the Arboretum. It came about as a creative solution to bring more tourism to the area and back to the Arboretum, which had thousands of trees downed by Tropical Storm Helene, Fowler said.

“We were closed during Helene in October, which is — like everyone in Asheville — our busiest month,” Fowler said. A conversation with Explore Asheville’s CEO Vic Isley turned into an effort to trying to get the trolls “when Asheville needed them most,” Fowler said.

“We kind of just caught lightning in a bottle between the support from Explore Asheville and that they were open to supporting something like this,” Fowler said of “Trolls.” December was the single highest month of visitation on record, Fowler said. The opening weekend of “Trolls” Nov. 15 broke its one-day visitation records. Guests were waiting at the gate at 8 a.m.

But their popularity has created some difficulties along the way, Fowler noted.

Early on, lines at the tree museum’s gates regularly spilled out onto Brevard Road as visitors waited to pay the required $20 to enter. After it happened a few times, the Arboretum activated a mobile pay station in it’s member lane to reduce traffic along the busy road, Fowler said. A sign on Brevard Road near Discount Shoes, over a mile away from the entrance gates, tells motorists intending to visit the Arboretum to get in the right lane.

“We weren’t even used to this level of success,” Fowler said. The Arboretum will be working with Riverbird Research to study the full economic impact of the exhibit, he said.

Want to go?

“Trolls: A Field Study” will be at the North Carolina Arboretum until Feb. 17. Admission is included with the Arboretum’s regular daytime parking fee of $20.

Visitors will be able to obtain a “treasure map” to find the trolls, including their leader “Taks.” A full map of Dambo’s trolls across the nation is available at trollmap.com.

“Trolls: A Field Study” was produced by the traveling exhibition company Imagine in collaboration with Dambo, and is being presented by Explore Asheville, Buncombe County’s Destination Management Organization. The exhibit made its world premiere on June 21 in the United Kingdom.

Reporting by Will Hofmann, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect