GRIFFITH | Talk about packing for a trip.

It's going to take 48 semitrailers to haul this lady to her destination on Aug. 1. But, hey, when the lady weighs 50,000 pounds, that's probably to be expected.

The "lady" is a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a masterpiece carved from Styrofoam-like material that stands 130 feet tall.

Craftsmen at Beryl Martin Co., a Griffith printing company, has been commissioned to do the work for YTB International Inc., an Internet travel firm in Wood River, Ill. Lady Liberty is scheduled to appear center stage in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo., for an August convention.

"We felt like this being an election year, it would be a great time to be reminding people of our country, where we came from and the free enterprise system that Ms. Liberty represents," said Lloyd Tomer, chairman of the board of YTB.

Craftsmen spent a day on Ellis Island with the Statue of Liberty researching her for accuracy, said Frank Brummett, president of Beryl Martin.

The piece was sketched on paper and then transferred to computer. That was done three months ago.

Crews at Beryl Martin are using a three-dimensional program that guides hot-wire wans through the foam. The statue is being created in 8-foot sections.

The Griffith version is just 21 feet 1 inch shy of the real Statue of Liberty, who stands at 151 feet 1 inch tall.

"I wanted to build it at 155 feet just so we could say we outdid the French, but you couldn't see the torch in the rafters," he said. "It about killed us, but we brought it down to about 130 feet."

She's also a lightweight compared to the original. The real statue weighs 225 tons. The Griffith version is a svelte 50,000 pounds.

And get a load of these dimensions. She has a 4-foot nose with eyes shy of 2 feet wide. Her hands are 15 feet wide and the feet are 9 feet wide with 4-foot toes.

Standing on a 40-foot-by-40-foot rectangular pedestal resembling an irregular star, the statue will hold a 17-foot book in her left hand.

Topped in a 8-foot-by-24-foot crown with gold-leafed windows, she holds in her right hand a 26-foot torch wit a gold-leafed flame.

The foam has been coated three times with a bulletproof green paint to guarantee she'll withstand the weather -- and other challenges.

Total cost of the work is $8 million, excluding transportation costs.

Gilbert Contreras, designer for Beryl Martin, said the fake Liberty may find a permanent home at the Lake County Government Complex in Crown Point.