The new display at the Sprouts Farmers Market on Broad Street looks as if someone was forced to draw the Phanatic both from memory and out of spite.
That’s the best description I can give of the haggard green giant that was erected outside the supermarket in mid-September.
Rotund, snouted, and wearing a pinstripe baseball tee, the creature has all the trappings of our dear Phillie Phanatic, the Galapagos-born flightless bird who reps the Phillies. Somewhere along the way, however, the details got lost in translation.
“That is not the Phanatic. What the f—?” wrote user @JamesPhl96 on X on Sept. 19 above two photos of the Sprouts monster staring unblinkingly into the night. Viewed over 113,000 times, the post has helped the figure take on a life of its own as equal parts landmark, monster, and friend-shaped photo-op.
“The Sprouts Phanatic fall display can’t hurt you. He’s not real,” one X user wrote, attributing the advice to his therapist.
“That’s my sleep paralysis demon,” wrote another. The creature has also been called many names, including — but not limited to — the “Fauxnatic,” “Phil E. Guy,” and Phrank, aka the Phanatic’s weird cousin.
Faisal Khan, who has managed the Broad Street Sprouts location since December, is quick to defend his store’s creation as “beautiful” and not at all scary.
The knockoff Phanatic was designed by Four Seasons Produce, a national produce distributor based in Ephrata that delivers to Sprouts locations in the Philadelphia region, Khan said.
The company (not to be confused with the landscapers) creates seasonal displays for the store every fall, according to Khan. Four Seasons retains full creative control, he said. They’ve mostly stuck to piles of artfully arranged pumpkins and other gourds — until now.
“They kind of went all out this year,” Khan said. “I was very happy.”
The Fauxnatic has quirks beyond his lump-like figure and piercing googly eyes.
The 5′7″ topiary is made of hay that was dyed green. It flakes off like dead skin. Measuring at 76 inches around at its widest point, the creature also cannot be contained by a baseball jersey. The back is held together by string so the Fauxnatic does not flash the general public, even if he does come close to mooning us. (Rest assured: two pumpkins are placed where his butt cheeks would be.)
His baseball tee doesn’t even bear the Phillies logo. The Fauxnatic had a hat, Khan conceded, but it blew away in the wind.
Khan says the creature has been a boon for the Sprouts location, which was the organic supermarket chain’s first to open in Philly at 1000 S. Broad St. in 2018. Since the day the monster went up, Khan has watched what he estimated as “100-plus people” stop by to take photos.
“It’s mostly families coming with their kids,” Khan said. The Fauxnatic “brings a lot of foot traffic in.”
Shawn Erwin and her 5-year-old daughter Skylar are one of those families. Erwin and her daughter took photos with the creature at the end of an early evening grocery run Thursday. They giggled the entire time.
Skylar, for her part, thinks he looks just like the Phanatic. Her mom isn’t so sure.
“He looks like he’s made from hay,” Erwin said. “What happened to his hat?”
Khan said the store plans to keep the Fauxnatic up through Halloween, at which point he will be swapped out for a holiday motif.
“I’m honestly surprised,” Khan said. “You know we’re just a grocery store, right?”
