The City of Fort Walton Beach is looking for a local artist to turn 25 fire hydrants into works of patriotic public art in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday.
- The Fort Walton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is accepting designs and bid proposals for its Patriotic Fire Hydrant Painting Project, which aims to enhance city streets by repainting the hydrants in designs that reflect the community’s patriotic spirit.
Artists interested in the project should submit at least five unique designs. If selected, the artist will be responsible for painting all 25 hydrants, including prepping each one by removing dirt, rust, chipped paint and any surrounding vegetation.
The selected artist must also provide all necessary materials, tools, paints and protective coatings appropriate for outdoor metal surfaces. Each hydrant must be finished with a weather-resistant, clear protective seal. The artist will also be required to maintain a clean and safe work area and submit before-and-after photographs of each hydrant, including location details, to the CRA administrator.
- Proposals must be received by the CRA no later than 7 a.m. on March 16. They can be submitted by email to cradept@fwb.org or delivered as a hard copy to the CRA Office at 105 Miracle Strip Parkway SW in Fort Walton Beach.
All submitted designs will be displayed for public viewing and community feedback during the next monthly CRA Citizen Input Meeting at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 18, in the City Hall Annex Training Room at 105 Miracle Strip Parkway.
The top three submissions from the Citizen Input Meeting will then be presented to the CRA Board for final selection during its next board meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, in City Council Chambers at 107 Miracle Strip Parkway.
For questions, contact CRA Administrator Alisa Burleson at aburleson@fwb.org or by phone at 850-586-7814. More information and the entry form are available at fwb.org.
11 Responses
We have a bunch of local artists. Wouldn’t it be better to hire 25 to do one hydrant each?
As one of the artists that painted a blue heron that is displayed in FWB, I would recommend the city contact OPL and ADSO. They have several artists that have experience painting outdoor projects, and know what types of paints work best. Im also wondering if the artists get money for the supplies needed, and for the time that would be required to prepare, and paint so many hydrants. A group working together would be more efficient.
That is actually really smart. Plus, it would be so labor intensive and costly for one artist to do all 25.
So there’s no code or regulation for these to stay red?
So you want artist to submit samples, provide there own tools/material needed and clean/prep all these hydrant ??? With no reward ?? Sounds like a lot of work when I’m sure people would volunteer to do these
ugh. our fire hydrants should be as visible to firefighters as possible… 🚒👨🚒 pls keep them visually consistent to avoid compromising safety response and to avoid introducing more visual clutter in our charming historic town. thank you!
Asking one artist to do all 25 is too much. 25 Artists is more like it.
absolutely agree 25 artists makes sense
One artist to do all 25 absurd. I thought it was going out to any artist with ideas for one. and to do it for free??? There are several art groups who could help OPA, ADSO, OAA, but not to supply everything and, again, do the work for free. That is not what happened with the sewer or water covers.
Lots of people complaining about one great artist painting them all. Sounds perfect for me.
Fire hydrants are color coded for the rate of water flow measured in gallons per minute (GPM). Seems like painting the hydrants in artistic color designs would mess up this system for firefighters to tell what each hydrant is capable of with water flo.