In celebration of Maple Ridge's 140th Anniversary in 2015, the City through the Public Art Steering Committee launched this community public art project that challenged current and past residents to write original "tweetable" poems, elegant rhymes, playful limericks, bar napkin free verse or classroom haikus, on the theme: what makes this City special to you? There's a poet in every one of us! It highlights the community's creative talents in public spaces and shares stories of Maple Ridge's past, present and future through poetry. We were inspired by the City of St. Paul, MI and City of Cambridge, MA.
Each poem was restricted to 140 characters including spaces and punctuation, and the winning submissions were displayed on local sidewalks in the Town Centre using a vinyl over laminate material and later stamped permanently into concrete sidewalks.
Special thanks to representatives from the Public Art Steering Committee, Holy Wow Poets, Golden Ears Writers and Municipal Advisory Committee on Accessibility and Inclusiveness in assisting with the placement and selection process.
We look forward to the evolution in the sidewalk poetry program!
2018 Installation
The 2018 installation called on open for residents to submit their sidewalk poem before the 9:00 AM PST August 15, 2018 deadline. The theme was "What makes Maple Ridge special to you?" As before, residents were limited to 140 characters and a total of five lines. The four poems selected by jury were to be stamped on Lougheed Highway between 224th and 226th streets as part of roadway improvements.
2017 Installation
For Canada's 150th anniversary, poems by youth were selected for the Thomas Haney Action Park.
2015 Installation
Congratulations to the ten residents chosen for the first Sidewalk Poetry installation in 2015. Thanks to all for voting "like" on Facebook for the top two poems (Emily Tsui and Leanne Koehn) which are permanently stamped in the sidewalk on Selkirk Street (behind the Mall).