It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at least on Main Street in Destin.
On Dec. 9, eight new banners went up on Main Street in Destin as part of the Destin Banner Art Project headed up by Ron Sandstead.
This is the seventh year for the banner project and the sixth time for the holiday banners. The artwork displayed on each of the banners is done by local artists, and they love doing it.
“It’s fun,” said Kathryn Guidry, who has been part of the project for at least five years.
“I just like painting, and I think it (the banners) adds so much, and I wish more cities would do something like this,” she said as the banners went up Tuesday morning.
This year, Guidry painted a Christmas tree on a boat.
“I wanted to do something coastal that represented our area, and Christmas … and it just came together like that,” Guidry said.
For Charles Saleeby, his second time to do a banner, painted a baby stroller next to a Christmas tree and a fishing pole.
“I wanted to do the heritage of Destin,” he said.
He explained that if you look closely, you can see a hand reaching out of the stroller to the fishing pole. Destin is very deeply rooted in fishing.
“I’m a fisherman and I have three sons and the day they were born I bought them fishing rods. And it wasn’t a toy, I bought the real fishing rods,” Saleeby said.
Kathy Schumacher, who has been a part of the project since the beginning, painted Santa on a sailboat.
Schumacher said she loves doing the banners, especially the Christmas ones.
“Christmas is fun and colorful … such a festive time of the year,” she said.
And painting Santa is her thing.
“I’ve kind of been painting Santas,” she said.
She painted Santa fishing on the beach and even a close-up of his face a few years back.
But this year, Schumacher put Santa on a sailboat.
Other artists who participated in the holiday themed banners include Estelle Grengs who painted two banners, one of a cardinal on a candy cane, and another of a Christmas tree next to a house; Hellen Harris painted a poinsettia; Lynn Craft Luekin painted a fishing snowman; and Pat Z Roberts, a flamingo on the beach.
The banners will stay up through the holidays and then replaced after the new year with coastal-themed banners.
This article originally appeared on The Destin Log: Holiday banners go up on Main Street in Destin
Reporting by Tina Harbuck, The Destin Log / The Destin Log
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
