A paint project underway this week will not only help spruce up Peabody Square, but also help small restaurant owners expand, or in some cases, add, outdoor seating options for diners.
Peabody Main Streets President Deanne Healey said the city recently purchased five picnic tables that have been installed in the downtown area, three near the courthouse and two more across the way in front of the Sports Collectible plaza. Starting this week, the tables will be painted by selected artists from Creative Collective, a Salem-based business organization that provides resources and support for creative industries and the arts.
“With the current situation with restaurants and the limits on seating, there are a number of smaller restaurants that don’t have the ability or the space to offer outdoor seating, so we are working with the city to work on putting out more tables so people can still come downtown on their own terms and still eat socially,” said Healey. “The city didn’t want to give up any additional parking space in the area, so some of these restaurants had no options to do outside dining. The hope is this will help increase business at some of these smaller restaurants. Plus, we are always looking for opportunities to display public art, so this is an initiative that serves multiple purposes.”
Healey said that when the square was redesigned a few years ago, the design was configured to use some of the new space for outdoor seating and events.
“The intent has been we’ve been doing pop-up pubs and things, but obviously we haven’t used it much for that purpose lately,” said Healey. “At the end of the game, there was always the hope it would be used for some sort of dining.”
The project was inspired in large part by Salem’s downtown Jersey barrier paint project.
“Like Salem, we are always looking for opportunities to bring art in whenever we can,” Healey said. “Working with Creative Collective gives us an added opportunity to give voice to the arts, a segment that is often overlooked.”
All week long Salem mural artist Anna Dugan has been hard at work adding her whimsical and colorful touches to the table tops.
Dugan has worked with several North Shore communities creating public art, including Salem’s jersey barriers and Peabody’s Main Street window murals. She said she was contacted by Creative Collective’s John Andrews and asked if she was interested in Peabody’s picnic table project.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to have different artists come out and learn about public art and see that it’s not at all intimidating,” she said. “Some of the people I work with say they love what is happening in Salem and Peabody with public art, but they think they can’t do it. I tell them, ‘you can, you can.’ so I am thrilled to be working with a different artist every day.”
Among the other artists contributing to the project are Sandra Lilly, Erin Survelas and Nicole Mazzeo.
Each table has its own theme, chosen by Dugan. Themes include Under the Sea, Tropical Birds, Outer Space, Desert Sunset and Garden. Dugan outlines the design with chalk, then, “it’s really like a coloring book, just paint inside the lines, paint-by-number style. Each table has the same style and all are nature related, but with lots of color and fun,” adding she hopes to complete the project by Friday.
Dugan even enlisted the services of her husband, Danny, who painted the base coats on the tables, and also brought a take-out lunch from Brodies Restaurant across the street Wednesday.
Healey said planning for some popular Peabody Main Streets events, including the Nightmare on Main Street and Holiday Stroll events, is about to get underway.
“We don’t want those events to go unnoticed as they are just really good family events that allow people to get into the holiday spirit,” Healey said. “They also bring in thousands of people to help support local businesses, and now, more than ever, these businesses need it, so we plan to do whatever we can to make that happen.”