Johnson Street Bridge Celebration - Part 2

A couple of weeks ago there was an art event on the Johnson Street Bridge designed to draw attention to the Johnson Street Bridge in light of the city council's plan to replace it. The event was organized by some concerned citizens working together under the direction and inspiration of artist Deryk Houston. I posted a few photos of the event and because it was so colorful and so much fun, today I am posting a few more photos. The photo above is to illustrate how participants of both genders were encouraged to lavishly apply bright red lipstick, in order to leave visible kiss marks on the bridge. And what father-in-law can resist posting a photo of his son-in-law wearing lipstick? That's my granddaughter enjoying her dad's new look.

Once the participants were on the bridge, they were programmed to raise or lower their balloons in order to have all the balloons of one colour up or down as can be seen to the right and left. This may have been to symbolize the way the bridge can be raised when required to allow tall ships to enter or depart from the Upper Harbour. (Artist Deryk Houston can be seen on the far left of the photo to the left.)

When the event was over, all those balloons were brought back to the staging area at Reeson Park and popped so that they would not become an environmental problem. Below my granddaughter Rosie participates in the popping.Since this event took place the city has been notified that it will not be receiving any stimulus funding for the bridge replacement. As a result, there is now increased reason for re-examination of the issues regarding this bridge. A good way to keep informed of the latest developments is to check the johnsonstreetbridge.org website.