A Living Work Of Art

Bridge of Love makes debut at May festival

It started as a simple idea to enhance the Mother’s Day experience for visitors to Eureka Springs.

But the Bridge of Love — a new part of the May Festival of the Arts — has blossomed into a living work of art and a chance for the community to give back to itself.

Ilene Powell says she saw a place in London where flowers had been hung across the street, and it was beautiful. Of course, she immediately wondered where it could be done in Eureka and thought of the pedestrian bridge that crosses Main to Spring Street. The idea was to honor mothers, daughters, aunts and friends — all the women in everyone’s lives.

And then, “I started thinking about how we could make it a fundraiser.”

Turns out Clear Spring School was embarking on a project to bring bee hives to the independent, co-ed school in Eureka, and Powell immediately saw the “circle of life” that went with selling live flowers to put on the bridge in order to help fund new pollinators for flowers around the community.

“This will be a good thing,” she says simply.

On Monday, ribbons will be tied on the bridge, awaiting flowers. Participants may bring their own flowers, or flowers will be sold on May 13 and 14 to benefit the school. At 1:30 p.m. on May 14, everyone who wants to be included is invited to a community photo opportunity before John Two-Hawks’ 2 p.m. Mother’s Day concert at the Eureka Springs City Auditorium.

And on May 15, any flowers that are still alive will go to Peachtree Village, a retirement community at Holiday Island.

Powell hopes to raise $1,000, which will pay for two beehives.

“It started as just something some merchants had done in London,” she says, “and now it’s turned into this amazing community thing.”

COURTESY PHOTO Part of this weekend’s fun at the Eureka Springs May Festival of the Arts is the “Artrageous to the Max” Parade, set for 2 p.m. Saturday on Spring Street. The parade honors the late Max Elbo.