Was it inevitable? It feels that way. 

After all, our airport is already a NY Times-certified hub of whimsy and quirk. 

Now, every half hour, a wooden chicken announces the time to travellers at PDX by popping out of a wooden Mount Hood—part of the 24-foot tall handcrafted cuckoo clock sitting installed last week in between gates A, B, and C past security.

According to a press release from Travel Portland, the 7,000 pound beast is a collaboration between French mechanical designer Nico Gros and Oregon wood sculptor J. Chester Armstrong, who chainsaw-carved the hulking edifice. The functioning clock features a man holding up a frothy mug of beer, and woman riding a bike, holding up a bushel of carrots (presumably organic). Portlandia, Sasquatch, roses, and salmon tick off the rest of the boxes, in case there was any lingering doubt this supposed to represent the city.

The only question that remains is why this clock exists at all. 

Travel Portland commissioned it for its winter tourism promotion, called Portland Is Happening Now, to attract visitors. It spent time in Seattle and Vancouver, BC this fall, before its homecoming. It will remain where it is until March 2015.