Brought to you by the Kearney Dawn Rotary, Cranes On Parade proudly celebrates the annual migration of the Sandhill Crane...and this year's celebration will be the biggest yet!

Nationally renowned artist, and Kearney resident, Martha Pettigrew has specially sculpted a crane just for this occasion.  The crane will then be mass replicated by Prewitt Fiberglass Animals (Gibbon, NE) for local, regional and national artists to apply their creative touch to.

Sponsors for the project will be assigned to artists and their respective cranes, pushing the event through 2003!  In October 2003, the finalized crane creations will be auctioned off to various art collectors and supporters of Cranes On Parade!

Proceeds from the auction, merchandise, activities and events will go toward Law Enforcement, Community Charities and Organizations, Emergency Services, The Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) and other art projects along with Rotary Projects and scholarships.

The Sandhill Crane Migration is an event that effects our local community every year, and is unusual to this area.  This is something that sets the Kearney area apart from the rest of the state.  It was with this in mind, that the committee intended for “Cranes on Parade” to also showcase our local artists.  Approximately one hundred applications were mailed to artists in Kearney and the immediate area, drawing from the membership list of the Kearney Artist Guild, the art faculty at the Kearney Public Schools and UNK, and other known artists.  Through media exposure, artists from throughout the state, and even out-of-state, became aware of the event and requested applications as well.

Artists were allowed to submit up to 3 designs each.  If you include the 218 children at Kenwood Elementary School, approximately 130 students at Horizon Middle School, and 15 students in the Kearney High School 3-D Design class, we had over 400 artists submitting just over 200 designs. 

Through a separate jury process, we narrowed the choices significantly, striving to include as many artists as we were able to procure sponsorship.  We appreciate the support of our sponsors who enabled us to provide blank cranes for the 31 sculptures included in “Cranes on Parade.”