Sam Fletcher reports from the Oak Harbor City Council meeting of Tue., Jan. 21, 2025 for the Whidbey News-Times.
In October, Oak Harbor installed the “Angel de Creatividad,” a 37-foot abstract angel sculpture, in Flintstone Park. Three months later, and following several approvals in the last four years, the city council “accepted” it.
They Said It
“To every single community member and city civil servant that helped over the course of nearly five years to make this amazing gift become a reality, and you know who you are, history is now yours to tell,” Therese Kingsbury, president of Sculpture Northwest, wrote in a statement read before the city council Tuesday evening. “The story starts now. Embrace the future, and fight for what’s right! We look forward to celebrating and sharing this tantalizing tale.”
Bryan Stucky was the only council member to decline to accept the sculpture to honor the overwhelming majority of survey responders who did the same.
“There are only two council members here from the original vote, that’s how long it’s been going on,” he said. “No doubt the public is tired of hearing about this, so this is the end, am I correct? This is the end.”
Stucky said he doesn’t have strong opinions about the sculpture.
“I don’t think much of it. It’s just there,” he said. “I’m not hurt by it. I’m not in awe of it, so I would just say for those who are for it, wonderful, and for those who are against it, if we could just move on, that would be wonderful.”
Mayor Pro Tem Tara Hizon joined the majority of the council in accepting the sculpture.
“I recently had the pleasure of seeing it from the water coming into the harbor, and it was very cool,” she said.
Ed. Note: Ms. Kingsbury is also a member of the Oak Harbor Arts Commission. Her company, Sculpture Northwest, contracted with the City to install the Angel de Creatividad sculpture.
