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Community members, 'creatives' invited to help decorate downtown concrete barriers

Community members are invited to add artistic touches to the barriers during a wheatpaste session from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Longmont Leader Staff
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Joyanna Rose Gittings, owner of Obra Arts Studio, on July 13, paints a section of the barricades along Main Street to make the area look less industrial and to attract more people downtown. The Longmont Downtown Development Authority is inviting the community to join in wheatpasting sessions to further adorn the barriers. (Photo by Monte Whaley)

The Longmont Downtown Development Authority is calling on community members to let their creativity shine. 

The LDDA is inviting people to help decorate the barriers along Main Street, which were installed last month when a lane of Main Street was closed in either direction between Third and Sixth avenues to allow businesses to use the expanded outdoor space for display and dining space. 

Community members are invited to add artistic touches to the concrete during a wheatpaste session from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the 300 East barricades. Participants are asked to check in at the front of the LDDA, 320 Main St.

“We will provide the supplies and locations, you just need to attend a session, bring a printed design or ideas to create a design on location, and paste them up,” the LDDA stated in a post to its website.  

Wheatpaste “is a temporary adhesive made from flour, starch and water that can be used to paste up posters or other pieces of thin papers onto surfaces such as walls, or in our case, concrete barricades,” the LDDA stated. 

Guidelines are:

  • Maximum design size for community wheatpaste sessions is 8-by-11 inches or smaller per person. 

  • Design must be family friendly and appropriate for public display. 

  • No words or numbers allowed.

  • Black and white ink lasts the longest.

  • Thin paper works best. Examples are white computer paper, blank newsprint, tissue paper, etc.

  • Participants must wear masks and follow social distancing recommendations. The LDDA stated it might ask people to come back at a later time if 6 feet of separation between parties is not possible. 

The LDDA also is offering $50 Downtown Longmont gift cards to 40 “creatives” to help them make large-scale wheatpaste designs. To be eligible for the gift cards, wheatpasters must live or work in Longmont, be 18 or older and agree to stipend terms and complete a one-page final report.

Designs must be at 24-by-36 inches on the lowest weight bond paper available. Artists also are asked to coordinate wheatpaste locations with the creative district coordinator and to attend a community wheatpaste session to create their designs. 

As with community members’ works, black and white ink is recommended for longevity, no words or numbers are allowed and designs must be family friendly and appropriate for public display.

To apply for the stipends program, click here.