Help put the 'wing' in Red Wing

A Red Wing resident no doubt sees a few wing logos every day, but traffic in the air and on the river doesn’t have an easy way of seeing Red Wing’s deeply rooted pride in its name. Until now.

For years, a group called Red Wing in Bloom has been developing beautification projects that promote the town as a desirable place to live, work and play. The group aims to enhance the community by sustaining its character, history and beauty, and its latest endeavor to do so will put the “wing” in Red Wing.

As an effort to provide recognition of Red Wing to boats traveling the Mississippi River, planes soaring overhead and cars crossing from Wisconsin, RWIB Board member John Anderes suggested displaying a large red wing on the river side of the Ag Partners silo near Levee Park.

Red Wing in Bloom brought the idea to the city’s Idea Slam and vied for a portion of a $20,000 grant from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Fund to encourage entrepreneurial growth within the community.

“They really liked it. They just didn’t think that it really fit to the guidelines of creating entrepreneurship,” RWIB Board member Megan Amsden explained.

It wasn’t long before the group secured a different grant for $9,000 and the project was back in motion. Minneapolis muralist Kyle Holdridge — who has done such work as the Kirby Puckett mural at Target Field — was selected to create the art on the silo. However, the art is still unknown.

RWIB Board members sifted through more than a dozen wings that are already used by organizations and businesses throughout Red Wing. They narrowed their selections to three designs they felt would embody the town the way they wanted.

“We wanted to pick a wing that if somebody saw it they’d say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a Red Wing wing,’” Anderes said. “And we wanted to pick a vintage style.”

Once a design is determined, work is expected to begin on the silo by late May or early June. Amsden said she guesses it will take somewhere around two weeks to complete, weather permitting.

“It’s quite a quick process,” she said.

The final designs in the running are the logos of Red Wing Pottery, Red Wing Shoe Co. and Red Wing Construction. Since the wing will be representing the entire community, the RWIB Board felt it would only be fair to let community members have their say.

By voting at http://www.republican-eagle.com/pages/redwingcontest_hidden from today through May 16, the public will ultimately choose the final wing to be painted on the silo.

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