The third Woodward Tribute statue is up and glowing, this time in Highland Park. It joins similar tall, cylindrical sculptures in Ferndale and Pontiac.
The statues are part of the
Woodward Avenue Action Association's Tribute Project, which is installing these sorts of sculptures along Michigan's Main Street as way to promote the corridor's history and culture through public art. The 30-foot-high columns are made mainly of glass and concrete.
The Highland Park Woodward Tribute sits at the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Gerald Street in a median on Gerald. It is framed by a mural on a drug store behind it that depicts the smoke stacks of the Ford plant where the $5 workday was made famous in the early 20th Century. The Woodward Tribute has images of a $5 bill and a dense figure in a top hat that looks like Henry Ford.
"It's (theme is about) what happened in the area," says Heather Carmona, executive director of the Woodward Avenue Action Association. "It's the story of Woodward."
Portions of these sculptures are being paid for by National Scenic Byway grants. The Woodward Avenue Action Association is still making plans to build another Woodward Tribute in Oakland County near the Royal Oak area and in the city of Detroit.
"That's our next target," Carmona says. "Where exactly we don't know."
Source: Heather Carmona, executive director of the Woodward Avenue Action Association
Writer: Jon Zemke
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