Editor,

Regarding placing the Sebastián sculpture in Windjammer Park, I would like to advocate for diversity in our art selections.

Art is made to convey many messages; community pride is only one of those messages.

Art should also be provocative, to get people talking to each other, both agreeing and disagreeing, and to provide another way to see things.

Public art attracts visitors, educates and broadens horizons, especially a piece by an artist of international standing. Our downtown is dying because there is no reason for visitors to go there.

As a downtown building owner, I worry for our retail tenants’ viability.

Surely Oak Harbor has room for cultural diversity. We should not reject this gift in favor of a windmill. We should accept it to go side by side with a windmill, celebrating both our heritage and encouraging thought and creativity going forward.

Mary Ferrulli Barker

co-owner of 841/851

Oak Harbor