Butterflies In Selma

Posted by ginger On Thursday, September 18, 2008

My new friend Janet in Selma has a *beautiful* blog about her city - and told me about the civic project that they're working on right now.

(The pics in this post are from her)

I am crazy about these - carousel horses in Meridian, fishing lures around Montgomery, big fish in Gadsden, catfish in Belzoni, peanuts in Dothan, alligators in Lake Charles, pelicans in Pensacola - but what makes these butterflies completely different from all the others is that they are not being made out of fiberglass and brought in from out-of-state, but rather handcrafted from wood by a resident:

(above:) His name is Nico Giampietro, owner of Nico's Custom Woodwork. He's making more than three dozen of them to be decorated by other residents for display around the city.

Selma is the "Butterfly Capital of Alabama".

The finished butterflies will be unveiled in time for the Alabama Tale-Tellin' Festival (October 10-11...Kathryn Tucker Windham will be there as the master of ceremonies!) and Riverfront Market Day. Here is a sneak peek of one of the painted butterflies that Janet sent me:
Selma is gorgeous anyway so I am looking forward to being there again in October. Maybe we can make a big trip of it and run down to Camden for Black Belt Treasures, and shop for quilts in Gee's Bend while we're in that part of the state! I wonder if all of Tyree McCloud's quilt murals will be up by then...

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