MASON CITY, Iowa – Time is running out to cast a ballot for the “People’s Choice” in the annual River City Sculptures on Parade contest.
28 works of art are entered for 2022 and ballots will be collected on September 6. The city council has agreed to purchase the sculpture which receives the most votes for a price not to exceed $15,000 and put it on permanent display on the sculpture walk.
Brochures and ballots are available at City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce, the visitor kiosk at Central Park, the Historic Park Inn Hotel, Moorman Clothiers, Mason City Public Library, MacNider Art Museum, McCoy Architectural Interpretive Center, and Visit Mason City. Voting is limited to one per person.
More than 500 people voted in the 2021 “People’s Choice” contest and “Sundays with Jessie” by Susan Geissler, which depicts a laughing child eating ice cream and offering a lick to his canine companion, was the winner. It is currently displayed in the city-owned parking lot on First Street NE & Delaware Avenue near Three on the Tree coffee shop.
A community initiative is currently underway to commission a sculpture for permanent installation at the Meredith Willson Footbridge. The sculpture committee says its vision is for a life-size bronze work by Lee Leuning & Sherri Treeby which depicts “Professor Harold Hill” and “Marian-the-Librarian” in an embrace, with lips almost touching. It will be named “The Kiss” and is intended to memorialize a famous scene from the Broadway musical, The Music Man.
