2004 Year in Review

Benson paints heron for Fulton riverfront

John Benson with his blue heron.

John Benson with his heron commissioned by State Farm Insurance

Fulton’s riverfront and downtown will be filled with eagles, steamboats, catfish, and heron this summer. After last year’s successful 36 painted wooden shoes that decorated the City, Fulton Chamber decided to have river related cutouts painted by local artists to enhance the City through the summer and also during the Grand Excursion Celebration, June 27th.

(38) Four-foot wooden cutouts were purchased mostly by Chamber members. Many of the members commissioned artists to embellish them. Ruth Gundlach of State Farm Insurance commissioned a Morrison High School student, John Benson, to paint one of six herons sold. Benson chose a brightly colored contemporary theme for his heron. One side is yellow and orange while the other side, having a similar design, is shades of blue. Benson, a high school sophomore, is well known for his metal sculptures having been featured in the Daily Gazette, Clinton Herald, and Practical Welding Today magazine.

The fourteen catfish will be hung from the downtown lights. Other cutouts will be displayed on metal posts in Den Besten Park (near the Windmill) and in downtown Fulton beginning Memorial Day Weekend through October 9, 2004.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
May 17, 2004