Visitors to Greenville are encouraged to hunt for mice in the SC city. It’s not what you think

It all started 26 years ago when a high school student needed a senior project and has grown into a fanciful diversion for Greenville visitors and residents.

Mice on Main, nine little bronze sculptures, are hidden in spots along Greenville’s Main Street. It is commonplace to see people with the hint sheet gazing into the nooks and crannies of Greenville’s ever-changing streetscape and arts scene.

The mice are also the subjects of a book, a game, a puzzle and featured on tee-shirts, the proceeds of which are donated to local charities.

Jim Ryan was a senior at Christ Church Episcopal Schools when he remembered the nine mice in the book “Goodnight, Moon” and thought a hunt for mice sculptures would be a great addition to Greenville.

He proposed the idea to city leaders and raised the money to place them on both sides of Main Street from the Hyatt to the Westin Poinsett Hotel.

“I wanted to create something that would bring people together, something fun, lasting and whimsical, something that would make families explore Main Street and create a sense of place as well as a sense of wonder and discovery,” Ryan, who is now an anesthesiologist in Greenville, said.

Sculptor Zan Wells, who despite creating statues of Greenville luminaries such as Dick Riley, Joel Poinsett, Charles Townes and Virginia Uldrick, is regularly greeted with “oh you did the mice.”

Next came the book by Linda Kelly, who was hunting for the mice in 2007 with her granddaughter, Sara.

“Grandmother, is there a book about the mice?” Sara asked.

“Goodnight Moon,” Kelly said. Sara meant a book about Greenville’s mice and suggested that Kelly be the one to write it.

Sitting around Wells’ kitchen table, Kelly presented the story to Ryan and Wells, who formed a partnership — they hold the trademark for Mice on Main. Wells illustrated the book.

It begins, “Once upon a time not so long ago, nine white mice lived in a cage in Jimmy Ryan’s bedroom. All the mice had clean shiny fur, nicely shaped ears, and fine slender tails. Sweet smelling cedar shavings covered their cage floor, and their water and food were always fresh. They had everything they needed.”

“But ... they wanted more! Adventure! Freedom! Sparkle!”

Each mouse has a name: Marvin, Marvin, Jr., Marcley, Melissa, Mitch, teeny tiny Millie, Aunt Mifflin, Uncle Miles, and Maggie.

The scavenger hunt clues begin at North Main “outside the hotel restaurant where a fountain makes a wall of water. You’ll find the father mouse, Marvin, reading his book.”

“It’s brought so much joy to so many people, children and grownups alike. It’s one of those factors that brought young people back to our city and made people feel something about Greenville that’s hard to put into words,” Mayor Knox White said at the 25th anniversary of the mice last year.

This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 6:00 AM.