January 26, 2006 Issue
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January 26, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Webmaster Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2005 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of Three |
“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”
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This Monday, Chestnut Hill welcomed the first of many fiberglass animal statues that will line Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike as part of the Business Association’s “AbZOOlutely Chestnut Hill” fundraiser.
Communities that host this fundraiser welcome a number of fiberglass animal statues to their streets. They find sponsors and artists to pay for and decorate them, and the finished products are put on display around town, until a final auction where the money raised goes to the community or another organization.
“It is fun and positive all around, and various segments of the Chestnut Hill community can get behind this,” said Chris Lane, chair of the event’s planning committee. He said it was a great way to promote Chestnut Hill in a fun way, as well as promote the local artistic talent and various sponsors.
Most towns chose one animal to parade through their streets, such as Grosse Pointe, Mich.’s “Frogs Fur Friends” or Boyertown’s, “Bear Fever,” but Chestnut Hill decided to go a different route.
“Chestnut Hill is the first that we are aware of that had planned to display using multiple different forms of animals,” said Christine O’Brien, president of Cowpainters, LLC, the exclusive provider of Chestnut Hill’s fiberglass animal parade. “They are definitely the first with Cowpainters.”
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Chestnut Hill’s Kathleen Gallagher is painting thefirst animal – a giraffe that is being sponsored by the business association to serve as their “kick-off” animal.
“I like to take a pattern … take a subject, and take off on it with my imagination,” Gallagher described of her work. She also said her works — which are on display at Carol Schwartz Gallery, 101 Bethlehem Pike — are very colorful.
Sponsorships range from $950 for the smallest animal to $7500 for the largest. The sponsorship fee covers the artist’s stipend and supplies and the moving, statue and concrete base costs.
There will be 14 animals for sponsors to choose from, including: a brown bear, chimpanzee, duck, elephant (large and small), flamingo, frog, giraffe, lion, llama, pig, spider monkey, tiger and turtle. Though the business association is expecting to have about 30-40 sponsored animals lining the streets.
A variety of events are in the works to bring the community together through this project.
The preview of the entire campaign, which deputy director of the Business Association Peggy Miller described as what will be a “menegerie of animals,” and the revealing of Gallagher’s giraffe is expected for the Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Festival on May 7.
In May, the business association is looking to sponsor a day with children, where they will choose an animal and vote on the artist who is to work on it.
Sunday, June 4 there will be what Miller coined as an “adoption party” with a “zoo atmosphere,” where all the unpainted animals will be on display and the community can meet the artist and sponsor of each. The location will be somewhere along the Avenue.
Miller said they expect the animals to be complete by mid-September, and ideally they would be on display the evening before for the CHCA’s Black and White gala on Sept. 16.
From mid-September until mid-November they will be on display along 10 blocks of Germantown Avenue — from Rex Avenue to Mermaid Lane — and along some of Bethlehem Pike. The final auction will be held on Nov. 18 at Chestnut Hill College, where all the animals will be on display one last time for a live auction that will raise money for both CHCA and Chestnut Hill District (split 50/50).
Sponsors and artists interested in the “AbZOOlutely Chestnut Hill” project can contact Miller at 215-247-6696.
