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Ten foot tall, unusually decorated lighthouses will soon be popping up on street corners throughout Portland, Maine and its surrounding communities as part of a project that will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities.
The program is similar to what you may recall having heard about or seen in other cities such as Chicago with its painted cows, Rochester and its horses, Toronto with moose and Cincinnati had its pigs.
Maine businesses will sponsor a blank lighthouse, from which there will be two styles to choose from, and then hire an artist to come up with some creative ideas to paint the structures. Sponsorship of a lighthouse is $5,350 dollars, which includes the fee paid to the artist who will have full creative freedom in painting the fiberglass lighthouses.
The event is being put on by Out Front Productions, a company that is based out of Victor, New York. The primary sponsor of Maine’s “Lighthouses on Parade” is Hannaford Brothers, a grocery store chain that has 116 supermarkets throughout Maine and other New England states.
After the lighthouses are painted they will go on display throughout the greater Portland, Maine area for a full five months of public viewing as well as being featured on the web site. Maps will also be available to guide people to the over 100 expected locations where the lighthouses will be on display.
In the fall of next year, all of the lighthouses will be gathered at one location for a public auction with 50% of the proceeds being divided between the Maine Center on Deafness, The Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute and the Cancer Community Center with the remaining 50% going to the non profit of choice of the winning bidder of each lighthouse. For more information visit www.LighthousesOnParade.com
The American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Lighthouses On Parade coffee table book. ALF will also provide ongoing background and historical information on the project. Hopefully, one of the winning bidders of a lighthouse will also name the Foundation as a benefactor of the proceeds.
This story appeared in the October 2002 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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