Don't let his stony gaze fool you. Hespeler Jack brings joy and awe to Cambridge, Ont., neighbourhood

A new resident is turning heads in a Cambridge, Ont., neighbourhood.

Hespeler Jack stands out for a number of reasons. He's got a quirky fashion sense, a growing fan base and, obviously, a set of rock hard abs.

The grey stone statue of a boy stands only about two feet tall or 60 cm. He's located in the Hespeler neighbourhood, at the corner of Adam Street and Rife Avenue.

The little figure mysteriously appeared on a traffic island one day. Since then, neighbours like Jennifer Beattie have been jazzing him up with new outfits.

"He just looked cold sitting over there, just concrete on a plain median. So I put a little bandana on him," she said, recalling the first time she saw Hespeler Jack in her neighbourhood.

"The next day I saw him sitting there and I thought, 'Oh no, he needs some sunglasses,' so I put the sunflower sunglasses on him and that seemed to be the beginning of it."

Beattie says she's seen numerous people cross over to the traffic island just to make a donation to Hespeler Jack's growing wardrobe or take a family picture with him.

Her husband, Kent Beattie, says he thinks Hespeler Jack first appeared the night of the Hespeler Village Music Festival around July 6.

"It's just a small town at heart still. Hespeler is still a small town and [Hespeler Jack] brings everyone together," he said, adding that sometimes the statue gets 10 visitors an hour.

A local celebrity with his own Google Maps page

Tim Hughes just moved in to the neighbourhood of Hespeler a few months before Hespeler Jack moved in right next to him.

Despite Jack's stone-cold expression, Hughes has managed to maintain a pretty good relationship with his new neighbour.

"He's pleasant and doesn't have anything bad to say about anybody. Always dresses nicely and really brings a sense of vibrancy to the community ... lacking a little bit in the footwear department, so maybe [I will add] some flippers or something like that," Hughes said.

"It adds to the overall community presence and and just the vibrancy and friendliness of the neighbourhood."

Ashley Lansink is the director of marketing at Explore Waterloo Region, an online resource that helps highlight exciting things happening all across the region. She says she was excited to feature the stone figure on their social media pages.

"When we first came across Hespeler Jack, we knew it was a really fun story that was quirky and felt like Waterloo region," she said.

"Seeing that Hespeler Jack is now a destination on Google Maps and people are writing reviews of their experience with him just shows the impact he's having is going beyond the neighborhood of Hespeler. We've been having a lot of fun with it and we know that residents and visitors to Waterloo region are really enjoying him as well."