City unveils fiberglass beavers for anniversary
By Mehul Srivastava

Dayton Daily News

BEAVERCREEK | The City of Beavercreek kicked off its 25th anniversary celebration by unveiling 25 6-foot-tall fiberglass beavers to be placed around the city.

The celebrants are repeating a practice cities like Cincinnati (flying pigs), Chicago (cows) and Washington, D.C., (pandas) used and spurred an increase in interest in art and tourism.

The beavers, to be decorated by local artists, will be used during for the Fourth of July parade, and will be displayed starting June 18 after an Ox Roast Community Festival at Beavercreek High School.

"We wanted to come up with some way to have some sort of shared community pride in the city," said Julie Vann, who co-chairs the 25th anniversary celebrations, "and we had to figure out some ways to do that. We decided that the beavers would do that — in a fun way."

To decorate the beavers, local artists came up with suggestions which sponsors will choose from.One artist's conception wrapped a replica of the Vincent Van Gogh painting Starry Night around the fiberglass (Vincent Van Beaver).