In Emmaus, fire hydrants spout art
‘This is something we’re doing to beautify the town’
When the Emmaus Arts Commission launched its PaintA-Hydrant program in the spring of 2019, organizer Lauren Kuhn had to field more than a few questions from volunteer firefighters and other residents who thought vandals might be on the loose, defacing borough property.
“At first there was a lot of concern that wewerelike rogue artists running around painting hydrants without working with the fire department,” said Kuhn, vice president of the Emmaus Arts Commission and an artist with a studio at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem. “I think people didn’t realize it was sanctioned by the fire department, so they panicked a little bit.”
She explained that the idea for the project came from borough fire Chief John Price and it was in cooperation with the police department and public works. She said the borough supplied the paint and the artists were careful to avoid painting the hydrant seals.
“This is something we’re doing to beautify the town,” Kuhn said. “Now that we’re
three rounds in, people are really responding positively.”
The project, which is ongoing, has won over residents and visitors with brightly colored hydrants incorporating designs that celebrate such subjects as the arts and theater, sports, local businesses, the Emmaus Farmers Market, and Scouting.
“I’ve heard someone refer to Emmausas‘the painted hydrant town,’ which I think is very cute and gives us a little hook,” Kuhn said. “In the Emmaus Arts Commission, we’re always looking for opportunities to bring more public art to town.”
Kuhn emphasized that participants don’t have to live in Emmaus or be artists to participate, and that groups are welcome as well as individuals. One team in the latest round is a group of eighth-graders from St. Ann School on Sixth Street.
“We don’t want people to feel intimidated about signing up for this program because they don’t call themselves artists,” she said. “We just want people taking something ugly and making it beautiful.”
Those interested may apply online at emmausarts.org and, if their design is approved, they get instructions for the start date and where to pick up materials.
“Wekindof open our applications on a rolling basis, so we’re accepting them year-round,” Kuhns said. “When we get to about 10, we launch a round.”
To date, the project has decorated 28 hydrants in the borough.
Price, who broached the idea for “Paint-a-Hydrant” with the borough, can’t recall if he saw the concept in a trade journal or other source, but he knows there are other such programs around the country.
“It’s not unique to us,” he said. “I just kind of stole the concept.”
When he started as chief at Emmaus at the end of 2016, it was brought to his attention that many of the borough’s hydrants hadn’t been painted in years and were showing signs of rust. He suggested “Paint-a-Hydrant” as a way to get the residents involved in supporting the town, the fire department and their neighborhoods while saving the borough labor costs.
Initially, the hydrants chosen for painting were all along Main and Chestnut streets, but now participants can propose which one they want to paint, and Price either approves or has them pick a different one. He said the hydrants with the best water supply are chosen for custom painting or else are painted blue.
The project has made the painted ones more memorable for borough staff, Price said: “If I tell them to check out the ice cream cone one, they know which one.”
That would be one of two that artist Christine Frobase painted. In the first round of hydrant painting, she decorated one hydrant to look like an ice cream cone at the intersection of Main and Cherry streets near Sweet Memories bakery and cafe.
Frobase, an art teacher with Easton Area School District, worked with her husband, Andrew, and son Luke on a popular scouting-themed hydrant by St. John’s United Church of Christ, 139 N. Fourth St. Andrew is the Boy Scout leader for Troop 25 based at St. John’s and Luke recently became an Eagle Scout.
“I loved working on the hydrant,” Frobase said. “People would stop by and chat and compliment.”
Lauren Beck painted a hydrant this fall on Ridge Street near the EmmausPublic Library and Williams Street park. An illustrator and lettering artist, Beck had designed posters for the Emmaus Farmers Market and used some farm- and folk-inspired elements for the hydrant, which pays homage to the market.
“When I was painting it, I had to go back a couple of days because of weather,” Beck said. “Each day I had people from the library coming over, taking pictures. … I had neighbors walking by and saying they loved seeing it, it brightened their day.”
As for Kuhn, she painted a fire hydrant at Williams and North streets, by the Williams Street basketball courts.
“There was a horrible looking hydrant right there in the parking lot that was bothering me,” Kuhn said. “So, I painted with a basketball and softball pattern just to pretty it up, and so it looks a lot better now.”
With 433 hydrants in the borough, there is still a long way to go. WhenKuhnfirst met with borough officials, she started realizing the magnitude of the project.
“I realized my kids could inherit this program,” she said with a chuckle.