Sharks To Return To Park

February 03, 2024

by Staff Reports

Chatham’s Art in the Park began as Sharks in the Park, and a dozen of the great white shapes will be integrated with whale shapes in this summer’s exhibit. FILE PHOTO

CHATHAM – Coming this summer: a dozen sharks in Kate Gould Park.

This year’s annual Art in the Park exhibit will, for the first time in a number of years, include sharks as well as whales. After winning the approval of the select board, the Chatham Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association announced that 12 shark-shaped cut-outs would be available for decoration and display, along with 60 whale shapes.

The shapes will be distributed to sponsors Feb. 20 at the Creative Arts Center. The completed works will be displayed in the downtown park starting in late June through mid to late August, and will be available for purchase through an online auction.

The shark shapes will be available by lottery, with preference given to chamber and merchants members. The cost for sharks is $150 for members, $250 for nonmembers; whale shapes are $75 for members and $150 for nonmembers.

Sponsors enlist local artists to decorate the aquatic shapes, which in the past have ranged from landscapes to elaborate sculptures. Half of the proceeds from the sale of each whale or shark go to the artists, the other half to the chamber and merchants association to support its programs and events such as Oktoberfest and Christmas By The Sea.

Art in the Park originally began as Sharks in the Park, but after town officials expressed misgivings about Chatham becoming too associated with the apex predators, chamber and merchants leaders agreed to switch to other shapes. Mermaid, lighthouse and Cape Cod-shaped art has graced the popular exhibit, with whales dominating the past several summers. A few weeks ago the select board gave its OK to once again include sharks in the display.

The chamber and merchants association will work with the Center for Coastal Studies and the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy to provide information on sharks and whales as part of the exhibit.

The chamber and merchants’ Oars in the Stores scavenger hunt will also return this summer, with 36 wooden oars available for businesses to sponsor. The oars will be distributed at the same time as the sharks and whales, and the scavenger hunt will run from May 23 to Sept. 2.

For more information or to sign up to sponsor a shark, whale or oar, contact Janice Rogers at 774-722-2515 or email janicedrogers@gmail.com.