He’s known all across East Aurora as “Vidler on the roof.”

Now, Edward W. Vidler, the 81- year-old president of East Aurora’s iconic Vidler’s 5 & 10 store who stars in his store’s well-known local commercial, is about to get a permanent seat on top of his store.

This Friday, just in time for the village’s reunion weekend, a statue replica of Vidler permanently seated on the store’s roof, with feet dangling over the rooftop, will be unveiled.

Prominently featured will be Ed Vidler’s trademark, well-worn sneakers. The statue also features him wearing glasses and the store’s signature red apron, and waving his right hand in the air.

“The sneakers are meticulously painted with light grays, dark grays, shoelaces and a tread design like his,” said Tony Vastola, a 14-year employee of Visual Impact Signs shop in East Aurora, which is making the statue. “When he brought these sneakers in, he said, ‘I need these back. They’re my lawn-mowing sneakers.’ ”

The statue of Vidler — made from a clay-like substance and painted with high-quality acrylic paints formulated to withstand the weather — stands about 10 feet tall and weighs between 500 and 600 pounds. It’s in stark contrast to the real Ed Vidler, who measures about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. The center portion of the store’s roof, where the building has a lower section, had to be cut to accommodate the statue.

“It’s monstrous. It will be our neatest and newest thing,” said Vidler, who brainstormed the idea with Eric Zimmermann, owner of the sign shop, which recently designed the Lake Effect Man statue located outside the Pearl Street Grill in Buffalo.

Vidler said the idea blossomed as customers would come into the store and quip to him, “You’re not on the roof today.”

“After a while, we got enough of a kick out of it, so we thought, ‘We’ll capitalize on it,’ ” he said. “In a town like this, you go for realism and not avant garde stuff.”

The sculpture — which has been in the works since February with lead artist Pete Eckis spending close to 200 hours on it so far — is hardly anything you’d expect to see when driving through a small town.

“It will add a whole new dimension to Main Street,” said Eckis, while taking a break last week after finishing painting the statue’s pants. He sculpted the statue from Magic-Sculpt, a two-part epoxy clay-like substance mixed with hardener and resin.

“It is definitely something we weren’t sure how people in East Aurora would take to. It’s not cartoony. It’s very realistic looking, but with the history of Vidler’s in East Aurora,” Eckis said.

“I’m just really psyched about the shoes. I think I put more time into his sneakers than anything. And Ed turned out really well.”

Village officials are upbeat about the statue, and hope it draws more people to Main Street.

“It’s a little bit of fun to share with Western New York,” said Mayor Clark Crook. “I think this really does show the true character of the community. Sometimes people think we, in East Aurora, take ourselves too seriously. This is something fun.”

Vidler, who has a keen sense of humor himself, isn’t quite sure how the community or onlookers will react, but he’s willing to take a chance.

“Oh, it’s going to be corny as the dickens. I may have to leave town in the middle of the night. . . . Or my wife will throw me out,” Vidler quipped.

When Vidler sought permission from the village, officials weren’t quite sure what to make of it.

“We had to figure out what it was at first,” Crook said. “But it ended up falling within the size stipulations for a sign and that’s how it was allowed.”

The lifelike “Ed” is marketing genius, no doubt.

“It’s going to be a crown jewel for their business for sure,” Zimmermann said. “There’s not much like this, so it’s sort of a new introduction to this type of art.”

“It’s a fun thing, you know. Everything becomes show business,” Vidler said.