By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
At least one Yachats tradition hasn’t been quashed by the COVID-19 pandemic — but it’s been modified to reflect health guidelines.
“Yachats Patterns” is the theme of the downtown art banners in the fourth year of the community beautification project, now including a handful that urge “wash hands often” and other coronavirus precautions.
“Everybody on the street seems to be enjoying them,” said Mike Guerriero of Yachats, the artist who coordinates the displays for sponsor Polly Plumb Productions.
The 29 art-focused banners “offer a vehicle for visual artists in the area to create something for the community and try something new,” he said. “We have a lot of fresh new artists who are expressing themselves this way.”
The banners, measuring 42 inches high and 23 inches wide, are designed and painted in acrylic by the artists and reflect an array of interpretations of the theme.
There are several seaside-inspired banners featuring sea stars, gulls and waves, along with others spotlighting bees, mushrooms and flowers. One interprets the Black Lives Matter movement with a raised fist; another depicts Grandmother Earth in Lakota lore, stitching the ocean to the shore.
Especially timely this year are a handful of banners exhorting “Be healthy Yachats”, with reminders to “Wear your mask for others” and “Give room around you.”
The Yachats Banner Project is patterned after one in Newport’s Nye Beach that has been going on for 12 years.
The art elements used on the COVID banners are the results of a workshop that Guerriero held at Waldport High School, and the after- and pre-school Yachats Youth and Family Activities Program several years ago.
The past three years, Polly Plumb has conducted a silent auction of the banners each October to benefit arts programs in the area. In another nod to the pandemic, however, this year’s auction in the fall will move online. Last year’s auction netted $4,000 for an art education fund and public art projects.
All the art banners are on view on the sponsor’s website.
Most banners will be taken down after Labor Day. The banners that ask for COVID precautions will stay up “as long as we need them,” said Yachats City Manager Shannon Beaucaire.
