Wanted: Rain Barrel Artists

Art and conservation come together each summer as part of  Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District’s Rain Beat on Main Street event. 2023 will mark the program’s fourth year, and they are hoping the program continues to grow in popularity.

That’s why the district is on the hunt for local artists to turn locally sponsored rain barrels into one-of-a-kind works of art for the event. Each rain barrel is sponsored by a community business or group, then local artists transform the standard, urn-shaped rain barrels. In the last two years, 51 barrels have been sponsored, painted and auctioned off with the proceeds going to stormwater education programs.

“Since 2020, the Rain Beat on Main Street event has been such a fun experience, and we were so excited to have so much interest and involvement from local community members and businesses,” said Jane Houin, Ashland SWCD director. “This year, we’re hoping to continue to grow the event and continue to generate excitement about stormwater education.”

This year’s even will take place June 14-21 in Loudonville’s Central Park, with barrels moving to the Ashland Balloonfest and Freer Field from June 22-25 and wrapping up with a display in Ashland’s Corner Park June 26-July 5.

Rain barrels for the event are sponsored by local businesses, and then the SWCD staff connect those sponsored barrels with local artists. The barrels get primed, painted and sealed by the artists, then are displayed at the Rain beat on Main Street events throughout the county.

While the rain barrels on on display, an online auction will be taking place where community members can bid on their favorite rain barrels. The proceeds from the auction are used for stormwater education events in the county. So far, the Rain Beat on Main Street program has raised over $4,500, and those proceeds have been used to the purchase of a stormwater management learning and community engagement game and host educational events on precipitation monitoring, ice river spotting, rain garden workshops, and two rain barrel workshops.

“We have so many talented artists in Ashland County that have created beautiful variety of rain barrels that were created, from larger than life parrots in the rain forest and honeybee skeps to African sunsets to rolling farm fields, each of the rain barrels was a unique work of art and the response to them was phenomenal,” Houin said.

Local artists who are interested in applying to paint a rain barrel can contact Cora Crilow, an Americorps service member at Ashland SWCD at 419-281-7645 or at coraswcd@gmail.com for more information.

The district is also looking for more local business sponsors as well. Rain barrel sponsorship is $100, or platinum level ($250) Ashland SWCD affiliate members receive a rain barrel sponsorship as part of their affiliate membership.More information can be found at www.ashlandswcd.com