Camel created from scraps in Quartzsite. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

QUARTZSITE — Camels play a big role in this community’s history, so it’s no wonder that camel replicas pop up all over town. The most recent addition isn’t actually new; it has simply returned from the dead.

Or, in this case, the scrap heap.

They call her Georgette, and she’s easy to spot because she’s a brilliant red. Not only that, her body is made of car tire rims, her head was once a motorcycle gas tank, and her legs are automobile tie rods. The creature was originally commissioned by a local businessman to stand in front of his flea market, then was left to rust when that enterprise went out of business. But then George He, owner of Gem World and Quartzsite Showgrounds, bought the flea market and inherited the camel.

It now stands in front of his store, wearing a fresh coat of red paint and some jewelry, applied by Lily Moreno, a store employee.