Fancy fire hydrants festoon M-Trail

Malta Trails Inc., President Laura Pankratz met Bohn’s Bones Arts head Kathy Bohn-Bagley in July with an idea that would, hopefully, please everyone, and no doubt keep the city’s pooch population on-target.

The idea was to have Bohn-Bagley paint four different themes on fire hydrants along Trail’s “M-Trail” in four different themes.

Bohn-Bagley has finished the artwork and now walkers, hikers and canines alike have yet one more thing to gaze upon while trekking the M-Trail.

“Partnerships in a small community makes our little piece of heaven a better place to live,” Pankratz said once the hydrants were turned into artwork.

Bagley, who also runs the Art Spot in town, explained that the first of four designs on the fire hydrants is a tribute to Malta Schools team sports and shows the Mustang logo with horseshoes at the top for luck and wild horse hoof prints on the bottom. The base color is white with blue rings and taps.

The second hydrant is dedicated to the children of Malta as well as their furry friends.

“We have many different types of dogs around town, and we all know how much dogs like bacon and bones,” Bagley said. “The fire hydrant is painted blue and the dog on the hydrant is a caricature of my dog, Skipper, who is a Jack Russell and has a funny personality. He begs for treats and will do trick after trick trying to earn them. The cartoon nature of the dog is meant to appeal to the children who walk on the trail with their parents.”

Bagley said the third fire hydrant is a tribute to the hunters in the area and has a golden lab pup with pheasants ringing the bottom and rifle silhouettes around the top while the hydrant is painted green to reflect the grassy fields of our summer prairie lands.

Last, but not least, the fourth fire hydrant is a tribute to the wildlife and shows a sunset colored base with dark green silhouettes of elk bulls and cows.

Bohn-Bagley explained that each of the hydrants are all painted with paint meant for metal, non rusting and coated with a clear varnish to protect them from weather and rusting.

The sleet/snow isn’t supposed to hit the area until the beginning of next week. Might be the time between now and then for you and your puppy to go walk the M-Trail and see the new artwork? We hope to see you there.