Overwhelming community support makes 'Life is GREAT on Highway 8' more than a slogan

The Chisago Lakes Area Community Foundation is very appreciative of the overwhelming support for the Highway 8 Chairs project! Wood chairs are being built locally, and 35 have been assembled, sanded and primed. They are being delivered to area artists who are hand-painting them with unique themes. The chairs will be displayed at sponsoring businesses along the Highway 8 corridor beginning on July 1. Please visit www.highway8chairs.com for updates.

The Highway 8 Chairs project is part of the foundation’s “Life is GREAT on Highway 8!” campaign to showcase area artists and increase local business and tourism. The foundation is pleased to announce that the project is SOLD OUT! The plan was to distribute 30 chairs – but 35 of the unique, one-of-a kind chairs have been sponsored by local businesses!

This summer, residents and visitors exploring the area will view all of the chairs.  Bids on the chairs via an ongoing silent auction will be collected at each sponsor location, from Chisago City to Taylors Falls. Prior to exhibition, a few distinguished judges will be asked to determine five “winners”. Those chairs will be excluded from the silent auction and displayed for a longer period of time. The winning chairs will be sold via live auction at Art Dash 2014, scheduled for October 4, 2014 at Ojiketa Regional Park in Chisago City. Proceeds from the sale of the chairs will be invested by the foundation, and the interest income is given back to the local community in the form of grants.

The Chisago Lakes foundation is an affiliate of the St. Croix Valley Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to building lasting resources that serve the people, communities and the environment along the St. Croix River valley. Artwork on the 35 chairs will be completed by the first week in June. Judging will be done by mid-June, and the exhibition will begin July 1. Also, look for five very large, over-sized chairs. One of the over-sized chairs will be placed in each of the cities along the Highway 8 corridor in Minnesota – Chisago City, Lindstrom, Center City, Shafer and Taylors Falls. A portion of the funding for the over-sized chairs and event promotions has been provided by the cities, with matching funds from the Chisago County EDA/HRA as an economic development initiative. Thank you to these organizations for supporting the Highway 8 Chairs project.

The local foundation also extends a special thank you to Roger Trivette, who designed the chairs, and to the volunteers at the Studios of Art workshop on the Parmly campus who helped assemble 30 of them. Thank you to Patrick Sullivan who built the five additional chairs we needed to fulfill the sponsorship requests, and for his mentorship of Cody Kloetzke, an Eagle Scout candidate. Thank you to Orris Erlandson of Lindstrom, Trivette of Chisago City, and Steve and Rick Julik from Taylors Falls for building three of the over-sized chairs, and to Cody, Patrick and area Boy Scouts, their families and Troop leaders involved in building and painting the oversized chairs.

The Chisago Lakes Community Foundation encourages area residents and visitors to support all local business communities, and tell them you heard about their support of the Highway 8 Chairs project. If you are interested in learning more about the local foundation, or this project, please contact the chair of the Chisago Lakes Community Foundation Board, Noel Stensrud at (651) 428-4535, or Highway 8 Chairs committee members Lou Ann Mattson (651) 398-7706 or Brenda Palmquist (651) 208-6793.