Calliope Hoalcraft’s rainbows will grace the family’s sidewalks in north Moorhead. (Photo/Nancy Hanson)
Nancy Edmonds Hanson
At age 8:, Calliope Hoalcraft has done something most people many times her age have never considered: She has tackled her city’s thicket of rules and regulations … and won.
Callie has been putting rainbows on things for more than half her life, says her mother, Alicia Strnad Hoalcraft. Last fall, the then-third grader at Ellen Hopkins School had a brainstorm: She wanted to emblazon a rainbow on the sidewalk outside her northside home, not with chalk, but in a more permanent, brighter medium..
“We went through the city code and could only find one rule that said the sidewalk had to be kept safe,” Alicia recalls. “So we went to Menard’s and found paint designed for concrete that was advertised as completely safe. Callie picked out the colors, and the three of us” [including her father, Brian] “went outside and painted a rainbow.” They finished adding Callie’s vision to the landscape in November.
“People really liked it,” the young artist remembers porouldy. From middle schoolers waiting at the nearby bus stop to children headed to Northeast Park, fans of her art could be overheard exclaiming with delight when they saw it. Some stopped to tell the Hoalcrafts how much they enjoyed this bit of color brightening their walks.
But not everyone concurred.
Winter wasn’t kind. Snow, ice and standing water flaked paint off the original design. Last month, as Callie and her mother were getting ready to repaint the rainbow with a more durable concrete stain, they received an unexpected letter from City Hall.
“A neighbor – we don’t know who – had sent a complaint to the city,” Alicia reports. “We got a code enforcement notice. They had classified Callie’s rainbow under the category of ‘blight’ under ‘Improper upkeep of city property.’”
According to the city’s missive, it is unlawful to “allow disrepair of sidewalks, driveways and parking areas.” Confused, Callie’s mom reacted. “My first thought was that it wasn’t blight – it was a child’s art project,” she says. “It wasn’t disrepair. It was bringing happiness!”
After a friend contacted city manager Dan Mahli on their behalf, the Hoalcrafts were provided with the paperwork to counter the chargen. “If you want to do public art in Moorhead, you have to file a public art application. Now we understand that’s what it takes,” Alicia says.
The family completed the application. It was first screened by a team of city staffers, then the Arts and Culture Commission. The city sent postcards to neighbors asking for their reactions. Only one not-especially-complimentary response came back. (“It might have been the neighbor who complained in the first place,” she guesses.) When the matter went on the commission’s agenda, Callie planned to plead her own case. At the last minute, though, her shyness kept her mute. Nevertheless, the commission approved her proposal, a decision that was unanimously ratified by the city council Monday.
Now Calliope’s rainbow is back on the way to spreading happiness to passing pedestrians. The Hoalcrafts have also agreed to keep it in tip-top shape, restaining the sidewalk each spring as long as they live there. (“And we’re going to live here forever,” the young artist chimes in.) If they do sell someday, the new owner will have the option of keeping the sidewalk art; otherwise Callie’s family will remove it.
As the Hoalcraft family readies their brushes to restore Calliope’s rainbow, now with the city’s official blessing, the little artist remains confused about one thing.
“Why would anyone want to get rid of a beautiful rainbow?” she still wonders. “Do they hate love and pretty stuff?”
