Deadline is June 20
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
While the coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on much of the spring and summer fun here in Central New York, the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts is hoping to raise people’s spirits with a haiku contest.
A haiku is a type of short poem developed in Japan. Traditionally, a haiku is three lines long with five syllables in the first and third lines and seven syllables in the second line. You can enter up to three haikus in the BCA contest and the deadline is June 20. The theme is summer.
The writer of the winning haiku — chosen by a small panel of judges — will receive a $100 gift basket of products from Baldwinsville businesses. The second-place winner will receive a $25 gift card to a B’ville establishment and a prize will be awarded to a writer under the age of 11. BCA will display 25 haikus on colorful signs throughout the village and the public can vote on their favorite. The “community favorite” will receive a prize as well.
“We hope to put up 25 of these haikus on lawn signs in and around the village,” said Jim Dale, BCA president. “They will have a number on them so the public can keep track of them.”
Winners will be announced by July 4, and the BCA is planning for the lawn signs to stay up until Labor Day. Homeowners who volunteer to host a lawn sign will receive a small gift from Sweet Dream Candy Shoppe. Interested village residents can contact BCA board member Wendy Carl Isome at 315-559-2892.
Isome drew inspiration for the Baldwinsville event from a haiku contest she saw in Washington, D.C.
“She became enamored with it there and brought it to Baldwinsville,” Dale said.
Because of the pandemic, the BCA was forced to cancel its annual Art Walk (which would have taken place June 6), its summer event series, and even the popular Ghost Walk, the spooky historical walking tour of the village of Baldwinsville that has taken place in October for the last few years.
“As you can imagine, we are an attractive nuisance, so says the governor,” Dale said. “The reality is the organization is concerned about the safety of the community. The last thing we want is to make people ill. We didn’t want to contribute to the spread of the virus. However, we are trying very hard to come up with alternatives [for our events].”
The haiku contest is the BCA’s first foray into socially distant events.
“We want to keep the creative juices flowing and if the haiku contest goes over well, we’re in discussions to do the same thing with Art Walk,” Dale said.
Last year’s Art Walk consisted of booths in the Oswego Street neighborhood staffed by painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelry makers and woodworkers to display and sell their work and explain their artistic process.
“We can put art out in the community as long as it’s weatherproof,” Dale said.
The BCA is hoping the haiku contest will help Baldwinsville celebrate summer and stay connected with the arts.
“I’m hoping that it gives the community something positive to focus on,” Dale said.
To enter the haiku contest, visit baldwinsvillearts.org.
“It’s a good way to get introduced to poetry. It’s not all that demanding,” Dale said.
To show you how easy it is to write a haiku, here is an example from the Messenger. It only took a few minutes to write.
Enter the contest
Just 17 syllables
Win sweet local swag
