Word on the street is that you can get a pretty good meal both in and around Cy’s Liquors these days - and you don’t even have to be human to get it.

Thanks to Chaska resident Leroy Oestreich’s handiwork, birds and squirrels in the downtown area have a new place to nosh. Oestreich, who worked as a carpenter for 18 years, created a miniature replica of Cy’s portion of the Chaska Mill. It now serves as a birdhouse and feeder and is prominently featured just off the deck. Friday morning, the squirrels were dining on corn at the new joint.

This isn’t Oestreich’s first foray into the world of replicas. When he retired from the carpentry business, he began dabbling in mailboxes, creating miniature versions of an owner/customer’s home. He later moved on to birdhouses and feeders.

“It keeps both of us busy,” said Leroy’s wife Mary Oestreich, who is often put to work gluing on stones or painting window frames for the pieces.

Leroy has done dozens of these projects, ranging from $30 to upward of $200. He takes custom orders for homes and businesses and, this summer, he and his wife hope to have a booth at River City Days.

Leroy begins by taking pictures of the building to be replicated and then heads back to his shop to get to work, fashioning the replicas out of tiny logs.

“It’s just like building a log cabin,” said Leroy. “Except I don’t have to do the interior work.”

His inspiration came from watching “Little House on the Prairie,” he admits. In fact, he has a number of replicas of the town from the show, including a general store, school and church.

The Cy’s piece is one of his bigger creations. Leroy said it took about two weeks to build.

It was worth the hard work, though. As regular patrons of Cy’s, both Leroy and his wife can now enjoy visiting their work whenever they stop off for a burger or a cold beer.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer

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