Third Festival of Banners brings community-created art to Isabella County

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Downtown Mount Pleasant has colorful new community-created banners to complement its community-created street art.

Children, students, residents and artists alike have their creativity displayed throughout Mount Pleasant and Isabella County in the form of 395 vibrant banners.

Residents of Mount Pleasant, Shepherd and Winn came together to design the art for the third annual Festival of Banners, hosted by Art Reach of Mid Michigan, 111 East Broadway St. More than 175 banners were put up in Mount Pleasant, where the event first started in 2009.

Art Reach Executive Director Kathryn Hill was very pleased to see such a strong response from the community for the event in 2011. The number of banners has increased significantly since the 192 designed in 2010, and 160 in 2009.

“For the first year, the banners were just in downtown Mount Pleasant,” Hill said. “Now, the festival has taken on a life of its own.”

Individuals chose to design the banners however they wanted, as long as they fit on the 30-by-60-inch space provided. Animals, nature scenes and business or organization designs were some common submission themes.

Downtown Development Director Michelle Sponseller said she believes the banners bring beauty and creativity to the streets of Mount Pleasant. The city helped Art Reach by hanging them up throughout the week.

“It just makes downtown much more lively,” Sponseller said. “The ones the children make are adorable, and some of the other banners are absolutely breathtaking.”

Trillium Fine Clothing, 123 E. Broadway St., was one of several downtown stores to decorate a banner for its business. Store owner Helen Chase asked her niece, Melinda Salchert, to design a banner for the festival for the second year in a row.

“The amount of talent in some the banners is amazing,” Chase said. “The community members and students that design these for downtown are wonderful.”

Mount Pleasant resident Briahna Ward designed two banners for the festival. was made for her work, Main Frame Gallery, 213 S. Main St., while the second featured a creative rendition of a girl swinging from a tree.

“It definitely gives people something to look at downtown,” Ward said.

The festival will last until November, when the banners will be taken down.