VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — When it comes to parking meters, they’re not exactly something you want to look at, but the ViBe Creative District is hoping to change that.
Up and down 19th street, artists painting live, this weekend.
Carla Ryan is going for a beach theme.
"It's really fun to kind of take something that is sort of ugly and an eyesore and turn it into something unique,” Ryan said. "I'm going to add some jellyfish and some beach animals."
Another artist, Kiera Gregg is painting dragons.
"I love painting dragons specifically, so I went for a dragon theme for these meters, wanting to share my love with everyone else," Gregg said. "I love seeing what everyone else has done. It brings a lot more color than you would expect to this street. I wanted to add a little extra detail for people to observe it and say, 'Ooh what's this?' To bring more interaction to the parking meters."
Ten artists are transforming 50 parking meters into works of art.
Executive Director of the ViBe Creative District, Kate Pittman said it’s a way to showcase local talent and add more color to the streetscape.
Parking meters are kind of a necessary evil,” Pittman said. “They're an urban land marker throughout any city in the country. We're trying to put some fun in the functional element of that necessary marker here on the street.”
Pittman said it’s a project that’s happening in other cities around the country.
She called the new parking meters the “icing on the cake” for infrastructure developments along 19thstreet. She explained, the city replaced the roads back in 2020 as part of an infrastructure improvement project.
“Now hopefully people feel a little bit cheerful, or a little excited when they're paying for their parking here in the district,” Pittman said. “It's just adding to what's happening and we're so grateful for that.”
The ViBe Creative District said in a press release, they plan to rotate the parking meter murals every few years, depending on how well the paint holds up in the environment.