Aaaaaay! Milwaukee plans bronze Fonz

MILWAUKEE, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Visit Milwaukee is attempting to raise $85,000 so it can commission a bronze statue of "The Fonz," the leather-jacketed icon from the TV comedy, "Happy Days."

The non-profit group that promotes the city as a tourism and convention destination hopes a statue of the beloved character from the Milwaukee-set classic might be a tourist magnet in the city’s downtown area, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Wednesday.

Visit Milwaukee has already raised $45,000 and is confident it will raise the rest in time to have the statue created and unveiled next year, said Dave Fantle, the agency's spokesman.

Viacom, which owns the rights to the Fonzie character, has approved the project.

Henry Winkler, the 61-year-old actor who played the eternally cool Arthur Fonzarelli on the show, also supports the project.

"It's an honor," Winkler said. "But it is so bizarre to think there should be a statue. I wasn't sure it was something that could happen to me."

Winkler said he would attend the statue's dedication in Milwaukee.

"If it helps the city, a city that has been so supportive and warm to me over the years," he said, "then I am so OK with it."