Fairfield Cultural Alliance unveils winning signs for Clean Parks Project

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Cultural Alliance has unveiled the winning signs in its contest called the “Clean Parks Project.”

The contest invited artists, whether amateur or professional, students or adults, to creates signs encouraging the public to throw away their trash in the city’s parks instead of littering. On Friday, Aug. 5, the FCA announced the five winning artists in the contest, and revealed their designs.

The five winning artists were adults John Schirmer, Mia Story and Fairfield High School art teacher David Kraemer, plus two of Kraemer’s art students, Ethan Hsai and Hannah Applegate. Those five designs were made into 14 signs, which will be posted at four parks in Fairfield: Chautauqua, Howard, Waterworks and O.B. Nelson. The winning artists received a 20-punch pass to the Cambridge Rec Center.

The idea for the Clean Parks Project came from the Fairfield Volunteer Center. Volunteer center member Shanaz Kreider brought the idea to the FCA, which loved it. Kreider and FCA board member Denyce Rusch spearheaded the project, doing research on past litter-stopping projects and coming up with 19 possible slogans. The FCA board narrowed these slogans down to three, and two were ultimately chosen for the signs, “Be part of the solution, not the pollution,” and “Feed the can, man!”

In March of this year, the FCA put out a call for artists to submit designs for the signs. While waiting for the artists’ submissions, the FCA, Fairfield Volunteer Center and Fairfield Beautification Commission walked through the city’s parks to determine where to put the signs and how many each park needed.

The FCA received submissions from 11 artists, which the FCA board narrowed to eight, and then took those designs to business sponsors, who put their names on the design they liked. The sponsors were Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Fairfield Cultural Alliance, Everybody's Whole Foods, MidWestOne Bank, Americus Diamond, Fairfield Hy-Vee, Iowa State Bank, Miller Realty, Libertyville Savings Bank, Smithburg Auto, T-Mobile and Breadtopia Bakehouse.

Rusch said the FCA board felt this was an important project to undertake with the Fairfield Volunteer Center because “civic pride in our parks needs to be encouraged so we can all enjoy them, and the parks are important venues for community fun and artistic events.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com