July 27, 2005
Young artists show stick-to-itiveness
TC Convention and Visitors Bureau receives 184 entries for sticker design contest
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Cherries, water, beaches and sand - these themes and more adorn a display of drawings created by area students this spring.
Participating in a sticker contest sponsored by the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau, 184 children ages 5-12 sketched out of what Traverse City meant to them.
"I was going with the water theme," said Molly Grettenberger, 12, who will be a seventh-grade student at Traverse City East Junior High this fall.
Grettenberger's drawing of a Traverse City Lifesaver, featuring cherries and a sailboat, took first place in the contest. Flowers and TC Fun was the theme of the other first place winner, Cailin Farris, 7. The quality of the entries prompted the bureau to designate two first place winners, one upper elementary age and one lower elementary age.
The winning drawings will be printed as stickers that Visitor Center volunteers will hand out starting this fall to children who come to their downtown facility.
Four children's drawings were also chosen as honorable mentions: Deven Sweeney, 10, Miriam Roth, 10, Nicki Reehorst, 12, and Emma Davis, 11.
"I was thinking about the Cherry Festival," said Davis, who wrote 'Welcome to Traverse City' on a blue sky above cherry trees.
Kathee McCafferty, manager of the Visitor Center, decided to tap area children for the promotional stickers. She contacted elementary art teachers in the Traverse City Area Public Schools district and sent out the entry forms this spring.
"We just had to have kids do this, kids can do so much better than adults," McCafferty noted. "Of course, we have the cherry thing going but we also had a lot of different interests - they're just creative and fun."
Late already in the school year when McCafferty had the idea, only some art teachers could fit the project in their schedules. While pleased with the 184 drawings received, she hopes even more come in next year.
"I think this will end up being an annual project," she said. "The board is really enthused about it."
Jennifer Case, director of publications for the bureau, was part of the judging team that chose the winners. She and two or three others evaluated the array of colors, designs and styles, looking for something simple but catchy. Even though the intricate ones included a lot of information about Traverse City, the judges decided they might not translate well into a sticker. Eye-catching color and images were also important.
"They all did so great, we were just amazed and there were some really great ideas," said Case, who noted the judges laid all the entries out and chose by a process of elimination. "It's fun to see how the children of Traverse City view Traverse City, so that was neat."
All the drawings received are posted on a wall at the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau. They provide a rainbow of colors and creativity that catches the eye of people passing by.
"People during Cherry Festival week- we were really busy with more than 13,000 visitors - they stood here and looked at all of them," said Kathee McCafferty, manager of the Visitor Center. "They would say, 'I like this one,' and 'I like that one.' Everyone had a favorite, though sometimes someone couldn't decide."