Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

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BUENA VISTA -- This is not a gag, Mark Cline wanted people to know, as he waited Thursday afternoon for a crane to arrive so he could hoist his latest creation into place.

The self-described entertainer known for his elaborate April Fool's Day pranks throughout Rockbridge County is serious this time.

And what could be more serious than a memorial dedicated to the lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York?

Cline has taken two 40-foot-long storage containers, painted them white, and adorned them with yellow ribbon and American flags. On Thursday, with the help of a dozen or so volunteers, he stood them on end on top of the hill in Glen Maury Park overlooking Buena Vista. The display is planned to remain there three months.

"This is one of those situations where you have to be careful how you handle this type of observance," Cline said. "Because I'm in the entertainment business, I didn't want anybody to mistake this for a publicity stunt and I've been very, very concerned about that."

So concerned that while Buena Vista Parks and Recreation Director Ronnie Coffey invited Cline to create something for the park, Cline sought the acceptance of city council before moving forward with the project.

"There's a difference between publicity and a publicity stunt," Cline said. "So I decided to talk to city council about this and we formed a committee. And I decided that it would be best to let the committee decide."

The city will use the display as a backdrop for a 6:30 p.m. memorial service Monday, the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Buena Vista Mayor Todd Jones and Southern Virginia University president Rodney Smith will be among several speakers.

"We're expecting a really good crowd," Coffey said. "I think it's going to be a good thing."

Smith said that despite Cline's reputation, he doesn't expect the twin towers replica to be a mockery of such a solemn anniversary. "If I had any indication of that, I wouldn't participate," he said. "I certainly hope and trust that will not happen. I think it's just a reminder and a memorial more than anything else is what I see it as."

Cline, 45, who makes a myriad of fiberglass figures at his Enchanted Castle Studios in Natural Bridge, came up with the idea for a 9/11 tribute while he was on Interstate 81 recently.

"I was driving down the road, and I looked over and saw some tractor-trailers side by side, driving over the hill. And immediately I thought twin towers," he said. "I look at shapes, I observe shapes and then look for ways to implement them somehow in my sculptures."

The project cost well under $1,000 using mostly donated materials and labor from more than a dozen businesses and organizations, Cline said. Open Arms Haven in Natural Bridge lent Cline the used 8,500-pound storage containers. Students from Southern Virginia University sanded and painted them with 18 gallons of paint. A Boy Scout troop in Roanoke donated American flags that will fly on the top of the structures.

A crew from Dominion Virginia Power installed cables to anchor the two towers to the ground. Welders spot-welded the corners of the towers to concrete pads that held another notable display at the park a few years ago: the busts of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor. Those busts were later relocated to Presidents Park at Williamsburg.

"We had the presidential heads up here, and that was controversial at first, but all of a sudden, people loved them," Coffey said.

"I think it will be a good thing for the community, and that's why I'm doing it," Cline said.

But he acknowledged that his reputation for silly stunts may make some people wary of his tribute. Two years ago, Cline, 45, unveiled a life-size Styrofoam replica of Stonehenge on U.S. 11 in Natural Bridge and called it Foamhenge.

In 2003, he hauled a half dozen fiberglass dinosaurs to Glasgow and proclaimed it "The Town that Time Forgot" to draw visitors into the small town.

And in 2001, he debuted "A Space Oddity," putting phony spaceships in a roadside field a few miles south of Lexington.

"I'm a promoter and I don't want anybody to think I'm taking a cheap shot at anything. I do some things from the heart and people look at it as another publicity stunt," said Cline, 45, wearing his trademark white fedora. "I've got a serious side to me as well. When you're in the public eye a lot people think everything you do is just so you can get you're name in the paper. And that's not true."