The Tower View Team has always been interested in public art and pondered having large bells in the downtown similar to the cows in Chicago or Cys in Ames that have been creatively painted and displayed.
This fall, a mini Bell Tower was constructed by Marc McGinn with help from Chris and Amy Milligan for use as a gauge for the annual Investment Drive. The Tower View Team was impressed with the mini structure and asked McGinn if he would consider making more for a public art project.
The Jefferson city council was consulted and agreed to having four mini towers located in the middle of each block on the outside perimeter of the downtown square between two of the pillars on each side.
Roger Aegerter of the Tower View Team made contacts with businesses in Jefferson with four immediately agreeing to sponsor one of the towers. The four businesses are Jefferson Telecom, Peoples Bank, Wahl-McAtee Tire, and Tri-County Lumber.
The towers will be ready in early February for artists to paint, so the Tower View Team would like to gather a list of artists interested. This list will be given to the four businesses who will work directly with the artist.
There are guidelines for the artists such as not allowing lettering for a commercial for the business. There will be a plaque on the base with the name of the business and the artist.
The artists may consider looking at the mini tower by the door of the Jefferson Matters: Main Street office at 110 W Lincoln Way to determine an estimated cost for doing this work.
Interested artists can contact Aegerter at roger.aegerter@gmail.com or at 515-386-3254 or the Main Street office at director@jeffersonmatters.org or 515-386-3585 to put their name and contact info on the list to be provided to the businesses by Jan. 31.
The towers will need to be ready by May 1 to be displayed throughout the summer/fall months. The mini bell towers will be the property of each of the sponsoring businesses.
Persons who want complete information about the program can contact Jefferson Matters: Main Street director Peg Raney using the information above.
