Downtown Benches Painting Program

The DDA Beautification Committee has been working on an exciting new program over the winter of 2025-26!

There are about 2 dozen wood benches that get placed every summer around the City parking lot and festival space at the corner of A Street and Iron Mountain Street downtown. They seem to get plenty of use at Out to Lunch on Thursdays and the Farmers & Artisans Market on Saturdays throughout the summer. All of the benches have also received plenty of exposure to the weather over the past 10 years or so, and the majority are in need of repainting. The DDA Beautification Committee is a dedicated group of volunteers that makes the Downtown Flowers happen every year. The Committee has been discussing repainting of the benches over the past several months, and has come up with a plan to get the job done.

First Steps

Beautification Committee volunteers and the DDA staff will start by doing the prepping, sanding, and painting for an initial “base” color on all of the benches to get them ready for artists to add designs to – in a manner similar to how the benches were initially painted. There will be 3 base colors used, including a dark color, an intermediate color, and a light color, divided equally among the benches. Those 3 base colors are shown in the 3 swatches below.

Asking for Local Artists to Get Involved

We’re looking for a few good local artists to help with this effort. Please fill out an application and submit your designs for painting one or more benches, based upon a list of suggestions below for art that depicts some aspect of local landmarks or history. Local artists can be individuals, groups, professionals, students, or whomever – as long as they want to help us keep Downtown beautiful. The Beautification Committee will review all applications and possibly provide feedback to artists. The purpose of the application and review process is to ensure that a particular design or theme isn’t repeated, and that the design concept and colors are consistent with Iron Mountain DDA Public Art Installation Program rules and guidelines.

Process and Guidelines

We’ve also put together a brief set of Bench Painting Guidelines to get everyone on the same page – including the DDA Beautification Committee, DDA staff, artists, and others – about how we want to go about painting the benches. It describes the desired surface preparation, paint colors and types, other considerations, and review of designs. Please take these into consideration when developing a design and completing an application. After submitting your application, please give us a week or two to get back to you. We would like to be quicker, but it’s a busy time of year for all of us, and that may not be possible.

Getting The Work Done

Participating artists or groups who have submitted applications and have been approved by the Beautification Committee can each take 1, two, or three benches and apply their designs. Benches can be picked up at Iron Mountain City Hall (501 S. Stephenson Ave.) by appointment with DDA staff. Please contact Tim McCauley or Katherine Mentel at (906) 774-8534 or programs@downtownironmountain.com to arrange an appointment for bench pick-up. All painting of artist designs on benches must be consistent with the design approved in the application, and must be in accordance with specific rules and guidelines set forth in the aforementioned Bench Painting Guidelines.

Finally, all artists are requested to complete their work no more than two months after picking up their bench(es) at City Hall. When finished, benches can be dropped off at City Hall, and the DDA Beautification Committee will apply a final protective clear coat of polyurethane to all benches prior to placement around the parking lot and festival space.