The Downtown Development District in Hammond aims to incorporate art into some of the city’s upgrade projects.

The DDD has an open competition for designing bike racks as a parking option for cyclists. Administrative Assistant and Farmers Market Manager Olivia Graziano described how the bike rack decorating competition began as a way to address the city’s issue. 

“The bike rack competition branched from Dr. Nelson,” said Graziano. “He’s a farmers market regular, and he was actually kind of frustrated that we didn’t have anywhere for him to park his bike Saturday mornings. He actually leaned his bike against the DDD office to kind of make us super aware this needs to happen sooner than later.”

Graziano explained how after addressing the problem, research led them to the idea of this contest. 

“Doing a little bit of research on what other downtowns do, we noticed that a lot of the bigger cities, especially the cultural cities, have artists that create their bike racks,” said Graziano. “So, it kind of incorporates culture into their area, and because the Downtown Development District is a cultural district, we thought that it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. We said we definitely have to get something that’s cool, a little funky and something that truly represents Hammond for people to view as well as use.” 

The deadline for the competition’s registration has been extended to April 4.

“The biggest thing is that we have that extended deadline,” said Graziano. “We’re really excited about the submissions that we’ve gotten, and that you don’t necessarily need to be an artist to give us a great idea. So, we really just want to encourage everyone that is in downtown Hammond and enjoys downtown Hammond to send us something. You never know where a great idea might come from.” 

The winners will be anonymously picked on April 5. After the winners are selected, the committee will decide on the execution and budget of the project. All are welcomed to compete, and the DDD encourages university students to compete. The criteria of the contest can be found on the DDD website.

According to the website, the competition rules are: “racks should allow two-point contact with bicycle frame. There should be accommodations to lock the frame and one wheel to the rack. Consider pedestrian and or motor vehicular traffic. Consider on-street bicycle corrals as well as sidewalk parking. The rack should be resistant to being cut or removed with simple hand tools. The design will be subject to modification by the judges. The judges will consider maintenance and economy as well as functionality and creativity. The winning designs will become the property of Hammond City Administration.” 

Submissions can be brought to the DDD office located at 2 West Thomas Street or emailed to Executive Director Chelsea Tallo at [email protected].