By Phil Corso
Temperatures dropped to bone-chilling levels Wednesday just in time for the installation of new wintery banners along Bell Boulevard.
The newest decorations to hit Bayside fluttered in the wind with streaming blue and white colors, showing off trees drenched in snowfall in one version and a beady-eyed snowman in another. Salon owner Michael Alick looked outside his Bell Boulevard storefront with admiration for the new look.
“These are very well-made,” Alick said. “The design is fantastic.”
The banners came courtesy of the Bayside Village Business Improvement District and were designed by the students and staff at Bayside High. The BID teamed up last year with Bayside Creative, the local high school’s design service, to provide that real-world experience students look for outside the classroom.
“It is a great relationship for us to have,” Sclair said. “Working with the high school gives the students some great experience.”
The banners were first unveiled around Christmas, when Bayside High students and the BID participated in a Dec. 8 holiday lighting and celebration ceremony near the Bayside train station.
At Bayside High, art director and work-based learning coordinator Cheryl Steinberg has worked as an acting chief executive officer of the in-house Bayside Creative company, taking the lead in students’ designing experience from both the creative and business standpoints. The program was just one of several career and technical education programs at the high school geared toward preparing students for the job market after graduating.
“The goal here is to train the students for entry-level positions,” Steinberg said. “Coming out of these programs, the students are much better informed and get a jump in the industries they are passionate about.”
For the winter banner project, Steinberg said students compiled five drafts for the BID to look over, with two of them ultimately coming out on top. The group will undergo a similar process in the coming months as they work to design the spring season of banners to beautify Bell Boulevard by March.
Sclair said he and the Bayside students reached an agreement to have the high school help design seasonal banners through next year. Bayside business owners will also sponsor the project.
The Bayside BID represents businesses along Bell Boulevard between Northern Boulevard and 35th Avenue and also along 41st Avenue between 213th Street and 214th Place.
Reach reporter Phil Corso by e-mail at pcorso@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4573.
