Residents celebrate new sculpture for Harris-Kemper Butterfly Garden
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Local residents welcomed a new and shiny addition to the Harris-Kemper Historic District and its community Butterfly Garden as part of a celebratory event in St. Joseph.
With the help of a $20,000 grant through the city's Urban Homestead rehabilitation program, the Harris-Kemper Historic District and excited residents unveiled a large new sculpture and several key improvements to the eco-friendly community spot at the corner of Faraon and Kemper streets.
“It's just a wonderful piece to add to this gorgeous area," said Cyndee Dvorak, Harris-Kemper resident and former neighborhood association president. "We've really put a lot of work into it and a lot of thought into how to make the (garden) more accessible, to make them want to come and explore."
The new sculpture, which stands four feet tall and weighs 150 pounds, was created by nationally-recognized artist Jacob Burmood. Burmood's artwork can be found at places like Arrowhead Stadium and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas.
Burmood specializes in outdoor public art and spent more than a year crafting the sculpture in anticipation for Saturday's event, an extensive process from start to finish.
"I was really happy with this piece. This is the first piece of this scale that was cast in aluminum. The other pieces were cold-cast aluminum. So it's essentially like fiberglass," said Burmood, a St. Joseph resident. "So the sculpture is based on the fluid movement of the universe, and it kind of taps into ideas of dance, as well as the fluid movement of the human body."
The Harris-Kemper Historic District, which has homes going back to the 1800s, was first established in 1986 as the Harris Addition Neighborhood Watch Association. The butterfly garden was later added in 2016, providing a much-needed haven for birds, bees and butterflies with the help of native flowers and milkweed.
The garden now includes a new mural to go along with a small play area and a little library with books available for young kids and patrons to read.
“We had an irrigation system put in so we didn't have to haul in garbage cans full of water to water all the plants. It has paid off immensely because the flowers are all in bloom," Dvorak said. "Now we can keep the milkweed alive for the butterflies, bees and a lot of other flowers … I would say almost 90%, if not more, are all native plants to this area."
Milkweed is a critical food source for Monarch Butterflies, which have declined by more than 90% since the 1990s according to the Center for Biological Diversity, largely driven by population loss and pesticides.
Harris-Kemper was one of four historic neighborhoods to receive $20,000 grants last year as part of the American Rescue Plan Act-funded program, including the Museum Hill Historic District, Old Town North Neighborhood Association and Main Street St. Joseph.
Residents and those in attendance also had the chance to participate in a sculpture naming contest to christen the new addition, with the winner getting a $50 gift certificate to Cafe Belle Epoque.
"When you get to the top of the hill you look and see it, that was one of the things we really wanted was for it to stand out," Dvorak said. "The grant helped us pull it all together and make it look finished."
