Markeshia Ricks Photo
Banners promoting SCSU and Westville Village go up on Whalley Avenue.
The Whalley Avenue gateway to the heart of Westville just got a bit more eye-catching.
Banners provided by the Westville Community Management Team and Southern Connecticut State University have been added to the almost two-year-old, decorative median that divides and calms traffic on Whalley Avenue leading into the Village.
The banners went up Friday morning. Lizzy Donius, who heads up the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA), and artist Susan McCaslin, made sure that they had all the banners sorted properly. Donius was almost giddy that the banners finally were going up. They’d been in her office for the last couple of months. Getting them up had been delayed by scheduling and weather.
The management team had approved using a little over half of the $10,000 that the neighborhoods get each year to put up a large banner that would hang across Whalley Avenue and promote village happenings. But the exorbitant costs of the poles and finding a suitable location thwarted that idea.
Instead, WVRA opted to put banners on the decorative street lights in the median. SCSU signed on as a partner, which is also helping to defray the cost of the project.
“This further solidifies Southern’s presence as a part of the neighborhood,” Donius said.
Patrick Dilger, SCSU’s director of integrated communications and marketing, agreed with that sentiment.
“We thought this was a great way to highlight both Southern and Westville, together – it’s a nice point of entry to both our communities,” Dilger said in an email. “For Southern, Whalley and Fitch is an excellent location, as it’s at one of the main access routes to our campus.”
SCSU President Joe Bertolino said that as the university commemorates its 125th anniversary, the banners celebrate its historic ties to the city and the growing partnership with Westville and WVRA.
“As a public university, Southern is ‘in and of the community,’ dedicated to advancing the public good and partnering with our neighbors to help resolve issues and create opportunities,” he said.
McCaslin along with her husband and fellow artist George Corsillo of Design Monsters designed the banners that represent Westville. And she helped Donius Friday lug them to the median in preparation for a two-man team from Signs & Neon and their bucket truck to hoist the banners and attach them to the street lights. The art reproduced on each of the banners is created by an artist who lives or works in Westville. Those artists include: Frank Bruckmann, Martha Savage, Beth Klingher, Dooley‑O, Noe Jimenez, Alan Grenier, Caryn Azoff, Tracie Cheng, John Keefer, Katie Kindilien, Don Wunderlee, Dan Gries, Sigrun Mueller, and Oi Fortin.
As a technician made quick work of installing both the Westville and SCSU banners, traffic whizzed by while a police officer looked on. The two women cheered.
“That is exciting,” Donius said.