It’s clear that people in Antigo love their community and they love America. The proof is in the paintings. That’s right, they're painting the town red, white and blue for July 4th. But this time, they are using fire hydrants as a canvas.
“We’re on a main drag, we wanted to jazz it up,” said Vickie Wagner, Owner of Wagner Shell.
And jazz it up they did. It all started with a paintbrush.
“John and I did them when we were in 6th grade. So we decided to do it for the whole community to be able to celebrate 250 years. Also, celebrate the fact that our small community likes to stick together and do things for each other,” said Wagner.
The community took to the streets and went to town on the fire hydrants.
“We’ve got an astronaut here on the moon. On the other side we did an eagle and an American flag,” said Theresa Schroeder, Co-Owner of Schroeder Gifts as she describes their hydrant.
The project is actually a competition, sponsored and put together by the Wagner Shell, the A&W, and the Antigo Parks and Recreation Department. The community, however, treated it like a reunion.
“I was stopped quite a few times when we were painting our fire hydrant. Subsequently, I stopped a few times on other people when they were painting, just to tell them how cool I thought it was,” said Wagner.
Not only does the project show that Antigo has some talented artists, it shows they have a caring community.
“And we’re really little and we come together in times of need. Whether it's for someone in our community or for an idea like this,” said Schroeder.
The winners will be announced on July 4th at the fairgrounds.
