Area residents are invited to the cupola/gazebo near Porter Bank, 230 Lincoln Street, on Friday, Aug. 19, to see all the entries in the Town of Porter’s Adirondack Chair Public Art Contest.
About 16 chairs will be on display, each one painted or decorated by a business or organization in Porter. People can also walk or drive around Porter and see the chairs on display outside various businesses from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19. And many of the businesses are expected to continue to display their chairs after Aug. 19.
At the Aug. 19 event, people can come to the cupola/gazebo to vote for their favorite chair and enjoy free food and drinks. The event is from 5 to 8 p.m., with voting open until 7 p.m.. The winners in both categories -- Fan Favorite (voted on by the public) and Best Promotes Porter (voted on by the town’s Branding Leadership Team) -- will be announced at 7:30 p.m.
Adirondack chairs were chosen for the public art project because the town’s new branding/logo contains an image of an adirondack chair and the tagline, “Porter Indiana --Front Porch to the Dunes.”
“The goal (of the public art project)...was, number one, to roll out the new brand to the general public and, number two, to have the business owners be able to procure a chair and generate some foot traffic by having the chair on display,” said Matt Keiser, the town’s director of engineering and development.
Indiana Dunes Tourism sponsored one of the chairs and had it painted in a beach theme by Holly Jackson of Holly Jackson Art Studio & Gallery in Chesterton.
“We’re excited to be a part of the public art project because the Visitor Center is in the Town of Porter and this whole project is centered around their branding effort, which we were very much a part of,” said Indiana Dunes Tourism Executive Director Lorelei Weimer.
“I think it’s awesome. It’s so fun,” Heather Ennis said of the public art project. Ennis is executive director of the Chesterton/Duneland Chamber of Commerce and also serves on the Branding Leadership Teams in the Duneland communities.
Keiser said the response to the public art project has been great.
“The businesses are completely into this. They see the benefit of it,” Keiser said.
“A lot of them said they liked the new logo and brand.”