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Columbian Park's public art

Some new animals are coming to Lafayette’s Columbian Park thanks to the Mayor’s Youth Council. The ten animals are concrete statues that line the tracks of the train ride.

City Clerk Cindy Murray says the teens were responding to a challenge to liven up the area.

“We had them painted. We tried to keep to the same color scheme the park already has with the rides. We have a pink zebra with black stripes and green giraffe with yellow dots,” she says. “We also have three benches. One is a caterpillar and butterfly on one end. We have a giraffe bench.”

Murray says the funding for the project came from a Lafayette Life Foundation grant for $5,000.

She thinks such Youth Council projects are a good way to engage teenagers and make them part of the city’s history.

“When they go off to college and come back ten years from now, and they still see that and think – I was part of that group that designed that,” Murray says. “Even their families are proud that they had a part in it.”

Other projects that previous youth councils completed are the city flag, the “Welcome to Lafayette” road signs, and a recycling initiative.