Women paint colorful images on Howard Park’s picnic tables

FAIRFIELD — A group of women has brought a splash of color to Howard Park in the form of newly painted picnic tables, each with a unique design and color scheme.

The group of four ladies was organized by Joey Katz, who found three friends to join her in painting seven picnic tables in the park with brand new playground equipment and which hosts the outdoor Fairfield Farmers Market from May through October. The group worked with the Fairfield Beautification Commission and the Fairfield Parks & Recreation Department on the project, which was done over the summer and finished in September, time for the last month of outdoor farmers markets.

The picnic tables feature images of birds, fish, flowers and polka dots, just to name a few. Katz said she got the idea to paint Howard Park’s picnic tables after a friend of hers in San Luis Obispo, California, did a similar project.

“My friend did this project at a botanical garden, and has been nurturing it for years and years,” Katz said. “Now it’s a destination place with weddings, and where kids come to learn about native California plants. That’s what got me interested in doing it here, so I found the artists and picked colors for the background.”

The tables have a primer, three coats of the base color, then a unique image, and four coats of vanish.

“The varnish brings out the colors,” Katz said. “They really pop.”

The four painters are Katz, Anne Walton, Cynthia Simos and Harriet “Happy” Burbeck. Burbeck took off her shoes and drew her sketches while standing on the table. Simos put dots on her table, so Katz wanted to do a table with stars. After she started drawing, she realized just how difficult that task was.

“Stars are hard to get balanced,” she said.

Walton chose fish as the theme of one of the tables. She said she actually planned to do flowers, but discovered that the background color didn’t work so well with flowers, so shifted gears and did fish. Fish actually fits her background, which is in marine biology.

Katz said she’s heard lots of positive feedback from residents who’ve noticed the newly painted tables.

“People have said, ‘It makes me so happy,’” Katz said. “At lunchtime, these tables are almost all full.”

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