Founded by Tim Keck (attended 1985–90) and Christopher Johnson BA1989, the Onion published its first issue on August 29, 1988, amusing (or possibly frightening) UW–Madison students with “news” that a monster had been sighted in Lake Mendota. With a taste for the absurd and a dry tone that matched the AP or New York Times, the Onion quickly became a premier outlet for news parody, billing itself as “America’s finest news source.” Its writers went on to staff The Daily Show and other programs. The Onion’s editorial team left Madison for New York in 2001, but it continued to publish until 2013. Since then, it has existed only online. This sculptural tribute shows a stack of Onions as they appeared with the publication of the first issue — right down to the Mendota Monster.