Business & Tech
Who Let the Sheep Out?
Take a sneak peek at the designs for some of the Hollywood-themed sheep that will be displayed around downtown Rochester this summer.
Lady Ba-Ba, Sheeplock Holmes and Captain Sheepow were among the Hollywood-themed sheep designs on display Tuesday night at at the .
Hundreds of people turned out Tuesday to check out 86 sheep designs submitted by local artists.
Design submissions are still being accepted for the public art display planned for downtown Rochester this summer; sponsored designs will be made into , which will be sprinkled around downtown Rochester. The sheep were first seen in downtown Rochester in the summer of 2001 and . They are intended to be an attraction to visitors during the rebuilding of Main Street this year.
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So far, two of the sheep have sponsors: "Clint Eastwool" and "I Love Ewecy". Sponsorships are available starting at $1,800 for downtown Rochester businesses. Sponsors can choose sheep from the designs already submitted or they can design their own. Each creation will come with a sponsorship plaque, and sponsors will have the choice to keep the sheep or donate them to the Ewe Revue Closing Party auction, with proceeds going to local charities.
"I think the Hollywood theme is a good idea. It keeps the options wide open for different designs and interpretations," said artist Neil Demond of Macomb. Demond submitted three designs for consideration.
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Aside from the array of sheep designs on display at the preview party, the DDA invited celebrity lookalikes to the event.
"This is a great idea to promote traffic downtown," Harper West of Rochester Hills said. "The DDA always comes up with neat events."
Tracie Rettell of Oakland Township agreed, noting that the Hollywood theme has instilled a lot of creativity in the artists. She and West were discussing different towns that have held similar public art projects.
"It's fun, especially for children, because it becomes a game of who can spot the bears, or the sheep," Rettell said. "It's a draw to the city in a good, clever way."
For more information on how to sponsor sheep and sponsorship packages, contact Kristi Trevarrow at (248) 656-0060 or send an email to Kristi@DowntownRochesterMI.com.
