Twenty-two parking meters in downtown Hattiesburg will soon be transformed courtesy of the Meter Makeover Challenge, presented by the City of Hattiesburg Parks and Recreation Department and the Hattiesburg Community Art Center.
Officials are asking young artists in the Hattiesburg area to submit designs to upgrade the meters, which are on the first floor of the city’s parking garage on Pine Street.
“Right now, Hattiesburg is making great strides to create a lot more color and creativity in downtown,” said Emily Gallaspy, director of the arts center. “(These) parking meters are not being used anymore, like the mechanism’s been taken out.
“It would be a lot of work to remove them, so why not make them cute? So, that’s where it started.”
Designs may be submitted for a single parking meter or a set and are not limited to any art medium, as long as the medium can withstand outdoor elements.
Examples include painting, sculpting or yarn bombing the meters. Each parking meter is approximately 4 feet and 10.5 inches tall, and 16.5 inches wide.
“The way the parking meters are laid out, there’s about two meters per pole,” Gallaspy said. “Some people have already submitted, such as school classrooms, so they’ll probably do a pair.
“But (participants) can submit a design and complete a really quick registration form so we can know how old they are and what school they’re from, so they can be credited for their work.”
Applicants must be college age or younger.
Registration forms can be found at https://bit.ly/35sizVd.
Designs must be submitted to hburgcac@gmail.com no later than 5 p.m. Nov. 6.
“It’s going to end up kind of looking like a gallery, the way (the parking meters) are lined up,” Gallaspy said. “They’re older ones, but they’re really neat. The hope is that people will make them into something and recreate them into something new.
“For instance, there’s one that kind of looks like the tail of an old pirate ship to me, so I think the arts center will paint that one as kind of a demo to get people started. We might make it look like an octopus is taking it down or something. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be painted with flowers or fish; people can recreate them using any kind of medium that can withstand outdoor weather.”
The challenge is being held in conjunction with the center’s Virtual Public Workshop, which can be found at https://bit.ly/2TktJFZ.
Applicants for the challenge are encouraged to view the workshop to help come up with ideas for decorating the parking meters.
“I’m hoping to get all 22 meters done,” Gallaspy said. “We’ve got about eight submissions so far, so that feels good to start with.
“But I would really like to get all of them completed by the end of November ... by the time people are walking around doing their Christmas shopping and frequenting downtown businesses more.”
