The long wait is over for the Buddhist temple on Riverside Drive, which finally erected its statue of Quan Am this week.

A celebration will take place Sunday at the temple, newly named the Quan Am Tu Temple, in honor of the statue and Vietnamese parent appreciation day. Anyone from the community is welcome. “People in the church are very grateful that we got to where we are,” said Jeff Harding, a church member and trustee. “It’s been a long haul for getting to where we are.” Members of the temple pooled together the $40,000 to get the heavy granite statue shipped from Vietnam to Utica, but found out last fall it violated the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals by two feet.

Read the whole story. You may know Quan Um better as Guan Yin or Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion. For more on the Buddhist community in Utica, keep an eye out for the November issue of Tricycle. We’ve got a little something in the works.

UPDATE: Two more articles on this: Utica’s diversity should be a source of pride, and a video on the unveiling of the 12-foot statue.