Betsy Mercier talked herself into another job at the Hattiesburg City Hall. It is probably the most recognized job in town.
Mercier, the office manager for Mayor Toby Barker’s office, paints the fire hydrant at the corner of Forrest and West Front streets with a different theme every month. She only has herself to credit/blame for the public art outside of City Hall.
“Unfortunately, it was my idea to begin with,” she said. “I went to USM, and I told (Mayor Baker) about one or two chapters of fraternities that paint the lions’ teeth and things like that. I said, ‘We should do something for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October). Why don’t we paint the fire hydrant?’ So, I asked to do it.”
From then on, the job was hers. Mercier got some initial brushback from different people.
“The fire department was against (the Breast Cancer Awareness Month design),” she said. “They said, ‘No, it has a good reason for it to be the color it is.’ They tried to explain it to me, and I said, ‘No, we want it.’ I said, ‘If I have to be the one who is called at 2 o’clock in the morning to tell you what color the fire hydrant is, then I will sacrifice that.’”
Mercier freehands the paintings, but the designs come from the mayor.
“It pretty much does come straight from the top,” she said. “I’ll normally give (Barker) a couple of choices after I start looking at calendars. Like this month, it’s going to be a puzzle piece for Autism Awareness Month because that is one of the logos for autism awareness.”
The mayor will also approach Mercier with an idea.
“That’s what happened with the Mardi Gras (February) one,” she said. “He knew he wanted it to be a Mardi Gras theme. For December, we let the directors vote on it. So, it just depends if we’ve really got what we want, I will go ahead and do it. If not and we have a couple of actions, we may let a couple of people weigh in.”
Barker said he enjoyed having another symbol of Hattiesburg with a design that changes with the months.
“It started in October and Breast Cancer Awareness,” he said. “So, we painted the fire hydrant in October pink. I think we all realized what a platform that created to draw attention to certain holidays and certain focuses. I think it creates a kind of public art piece, but also a platform for the Mayor’s Office to focus on a particular issue. We’ve enjoyed it so far, at minimal cost and effort. We just look forward to what comes next.”
Mercier said she has had art classes at Hattiesburg High School and at Southern Miss.
“I have always liked painting and doing crafts and things like that,” she said. “Once I volunteered the first time, I didn’t have to say anything for the next ones. I kept saying, ‘Who are you going to get to do it if I leave?’ He said, ‘No, you can’t.’”
Mercier also gets a chance to show off her work at City Hall.
“I like it; I think it’s fun,” she said. “I do all the tours and field trips when people want to come and visit City Hall, so I always point it out. I love it.”
Identifying the theme of the artwork or the impression on the fire hydrant isn’t always easy, Mercier said.
“We talked about seeing if our Traffic Department or Public Works could put something up,” she said. “It would help for people who need to have a better understanding of what is painted. In January for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, I did a quote that went all the way around the fire hydrant. It was very hard to read.”
Becoming a local celebrity isn’t something Mercier planned on.
“It’s fun when people walk by and say, ‘What are you painting this time?’” she said. “Or people will come by and look. Or people will stop at the stoplight will ask, ‘What’s going on? What are you doing?’”
Then again, sometimes the process gets confused by some passersby or people who stop at the stoplight.
“I guess I was kneeling this way when I was painting it,” she said. “Somebody one time thought that I was praying to the fire hydrant. No, not quite.”
