KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 28, 2022
Downtown Augusta is a more vibrant and interesting place this week. It is also likely the only community in the country whose streets are lined with statues of sturgeon. The sturgeon, decorated by local artists and organizations as part of a public arts initiative, already have accomplished the worthwhile aims of public art: to bring life to an area, to connect us through our common spaces, and to reflect something special about a place. Public art is often criticized as frivolous, and always subject to the whims of personal taste. But the sturgeon statues, based on the ancient species that visits the Kennebec River every year, show how valuable public art can be — how it can draw people in, give them a smile, and make them think.