Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
Local graphic artist Bob Barko Jr., who originally painted the Pete and Penny the Penguin fire hydrants on and around the Youngstown State University campus when he was a student in 1993, is giving many of the hydrants a much-needed facelift.
Barko, superintendent of public affairs for the 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna and owner of Steel Town Studios, is giving a fresh coat of paint to 83 Pete the Penguin fire hydrants and one Penny the Penguin fire hydrant.
The original project included 124 hydrants painted as miniature versions of YSU’s mascot, Pete the Penguin, in an area from Wood Street to the North Side of Wick Park and from Smoky Hollow east of campus to Belmont Avenue on its west side.
Barko said the idea was introduced by then-YSU President Leslie Cochran as a way to display Penguin pride; and when Barko learned about it from an instructor he thought it would be a “great way to spend the summer.”
He said he was one of only two people to show interest in the project, and his design was chosen and he was picked for the job.
In 2002, Barko repainted many of the Pete and Penny the Penguin hydrants on the campus core and surrounding streets, but since then the remaining hydrants began to show a need to be repainted, university officials said.
Barko said painting the hydrants was his first community art project and it has been noticed by many people.
He said that over the years, students have told him seeing the hydrants “sealed the deal in their decision to come to YSU. That’s pretty awesome for your artwork to mean that much,” he said.
“I am thrilled to be back and giving them a new coat of color. As I am painting, people honk or yell out, ‘They are looking great.’ It’s very cool,” he said.
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