Hopkinsville Brewing Co. was packed wall to wall Friday evening with patrons who came out to see and bid on The Chair Project creations.
A few dozen creatively remade chairs, benches and stools went to the high bidders for 36 chairs. Themes included patriotic designs, a newspaper inspired office chair, whimsical seats, a tobacco leaf chair, an old theater seat, two bourbon barrel chairs and several more.
Hoptown Chronicle sponsored a companion project with our chair-themed haiku contest. We received approximately 50 submissions that ranged from serious to humorous.
We asked our readers to “make us laugh, make us cry, make us think,” and they certainly came through with creative and thought-provoking haiku.
Although we announced Hoptown Chronicle would award $100 for one first prize haiku, the decision was hard. Instead we chose two first prize awards — for Yvette Holmes’ poem about an ICU waiting room and Beth Mueller’s poem about Gov. Edward T. “Ned” Breathitt’s bench statue in front of the courthouse. And we recognized five honorable mention contributors — Rachel Cavanah, Karen Dougherty, George Fillingham, Becky Dearman and Aviral Devtale.
You can read the haiku from our seven finalists and more from everyone who submitted a poem. The haiku collection is published here.
The Chair Project, now in its second year, is a fundraiser for Sanctuary Inc., a shelter for people dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault. Sanctuary’s executive director, Heather Lancaster, told Hoptown Chronicle that the next Chair Project will be in 2028. Going forward, Sanctuary will the alternate years for two of its major fundraisers — Dancing With Our Stars and The Chair Project.
During Friday’s event, organizers announced prizes for the best chair designs. Those were:
- Best of Show — Lynn Posoat for a chair titled “Sanctuary of Mom”
- Second place — Amanda Buzzard for “Life Will Out”
- Third place — Tracey Groves for “Extra Extra!”
One of the bourbon barrel chairs, made by Hopkinsville Brewing co-owner Joey Medeiros, earned the highest bid and went to Tiffany Luna, who is director of the Hopkinsville-Christian County Public Library.
The event raised $3,680, including $2,300 in chair bids, $1,200 in sponsorships and $180 in donations. In addition, J. Schrecker Jewelry will be donating a portion from its sales of Chair Project chair bracelets.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
