Last week, a new nonprofit organization led by four seasoned Bangor artists, educators, and volunteers was established to enhance Bangor through public art, trees, and gardens.
Annette Dodd, Kat Johnson, Greg Edwards, and Susan Bryand founded Bangor Beautiful to raise money and gather resources to build new murals, plant trees and gardens, and recruit volunteers to maintain Bangor's numerous miles of public pathways.
The partnership will meet the demand for a more systematic approach to enhancing Bangor's aesthetics and preserving the decorative features that increase the city's allure for visitors and companies.
Three of the most well-known murals were created by Dodd, who along with her family owns The Rock & Art Shop sites in Bangor, Ellsworth, and Bar Harbor in Bangor: the Paul Bunyan "Bangor Wants You" mural on Central Street, the Kenduskeag Stream Trail mural on Franklin Street, and the Welcome to Bangor mural on Union Street.
Dodd and collaborator Peter Walsh undertook the massive Franklin Street mural, which was finished in June 2022, with funding provided by the Maine Arts Commission.
Dodd was persuaded that they needed to establish an organization that could directly support initiatives like that and expands beyond just downtown Bangor to include the entire city after receiving financial backing from the arts commission and others.
Dodd, who along with Edwards sits on Bangor's Tree Board, stated that areas of the city outside of the downtown area "could need public art, new trees to be planted, or some other way to enhance the region." Such actions improve the city. They raise the value of the real estate. They enhance the quality of life here.
They will be able to seek funding through Bangor Beautiful, accept donations from a variety of sources, and regularly take on new projects, one of which will be a new, sizable mural that will be painted in downtown Bangor this summer.
In July, Bangor will host artist Matt Willey's Good of the Hive project, which will include the creation of a sizable mural with a bee motif on the Park Street side of Pepino's Restaurant.
Friends of the Lower Kenduskeag Stream, a volunteer group that maintains the Kenduskeag Stream Trail each month, as well as other volunteers looking to maintain and create signage for trails like those in Essex Woods or the City Forest, will receive support from Bangor Beautiful.
Beyond murals, Dodd said she and her organization want to add more trees to the city's roadways, plant flowers in key locations, and paint smaller works of public art on the city's retaining walls and other infrastructure.
For instance, she pointed out that large stretches of Center Street are devoid of trees while she commuted to work on foot. "We should replace any that are chopped down because they provide shade, they're lovely, and they should be."
The Downtown Bangor Partnership, which has its beautification committee, will continue to oversee comparable beautifying initiatives including the Adopt-a-Garden program for the Downtown Bangor neighborhood and the holiday lights along Norumbega Parkway and Hannibal Hamlin Park.
Dodd stated that in addition to looking for grants and contributions, Bangor Beautiful also wishes to enlist volunteers to help with community cleanup and beautification initiatives.
"We need people who care deeply about this neighborhood and who want to make a difference in improving it," she said.
The above article is selected by CoolDeeds.org. The information and the assets belong to their respective owners (https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/03/23/news/bangor/bangor-beautiful-nonprofit-project-joam40zk0w/).
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