Downtown St. Charles 'Chair-ity' promotion wraps up with online auction

The Downtown St. Charles Partnership wrapping up the summerlong "Chair-ity" program.

The event placed decorated Adirondack-style chairs throughout downtown St. Charles during the summer. Mayor Ray Rogina, who inspired a Chicago White Sox chair, said, "The 'Chair-ity' initiative this summer was a wonderful promotion by the Downtown Partnership. Not only did it provide color, conversation and creativity, but was a great fundraiser for downtown promotion. My thanks to those who took the time to donate and design."

The program encouraged any individual, group or business to participate by creating imaginative and unique works of art appropriate for public display. The event brought out over 100 entries, including local downtown businesses, like Wool & Company, JP Jewelers and Hotel Baker. There was also participation by many community groups, school groups and local artists to round out the entries. Most of the chairs were purchased by the participants from the St. Charles Ace Hardware at a discounted price.

The Downtown St. Charles Partnership feels the program brought about numerous benefits. "We were thrilled to see how the community really embraced this program," said Lynne Schwartz, executive director. "We had a dedicated group of volunteers, wonderful cooperation from the city and our community partners, and a high level of participation from the community. The participants really took pride in their chairs, as you can see by the quality and creativity of the artwork. It was so much fun to see people sitting in the chairs throughout the summer."

Many of the entrants donated their chairs for the online auction taking place in conjunction with the promotion. All of the proceeds from the auction will go back into the beatification of the New Volunteer Plaza north of the municipal building. The auction is live until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Bids can be made by visiting the auction site, chair15.myab.co. Photos of the chairs can be found on the site, as well as at www.facebook.com/DowntownStCharlesPartnership.

For more information on the event, visit www.downtownstcharles.org/events/chair-ity/.