Flower posts decorated with colourful, new banners now adorn the downtown business area of Elliot Lake.
The banners were submitted by local artists of all ages making up about 40 around Elliot Lake who took part in a judged competition of their work and were officially unveiled by Mayor Dan Marchisella on Friday afternoon.
The banners were selected from entries received from children and youth and veteran artists from the adult category. The judging panel was made up of artists Julie Merk, Linda Finn and Barb Hukezalie
The mayor gave a special thanks to the artists for their work that has come at a time when the city has seen losses including the loss to its civic centre and the impact the COVID-19 has had on the community.
“A big thank you to the artists, keeping arts alive in our community COVID or not,” the mayor told a crowd of supporters and artists at the ribbon cutting for the banner project.
The project was funded by the city through a grant it received for downtown beautification.
“The city suffered the loss of our civic centre which was our main hub for art in 2019 and it was very devastating for our community, followed by COVID which was devastating for everybody, very hard to be social,” the mayor said. “Seeing all the artists young and old come together for a project like this and the assistance from the city, it’s bright, it’s cheery, it’s exciting.”
Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes also attended the event bringing along a message from Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha who was unable to attend.
Hughes said despite the disruption in the way people live because of the pandemic and its restrictions projects such as the banner project,” certainly has proven that even art can be done differently and we can come together to appreciate it.”
A list of artists and their work can be found on the Elliot Lake website under the recreation and culture section.