Batavia’s famous Peace Bridge, which has received several enhancements in the past year including new lighting and permanent metal lettering, was in the spotlight again Thursday as a new selfie station was unveiled for those looking to take a photo of the iconic landmark in the city.
The selfie station on the northwest overlook of the Wilson Street Bridge in Batavia offers a clean view of the Peace Bridge.
Beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday, an “influencer launch” for the selfie station was hosted by the Batavia Parks Foundation to try and get the word out about the new site for photos.
Batavia Parks Foundation President Britta McKenna spoke the day before the launch and said she wanted to bring the idea of having a selfie station back to Batavia after seeing one herself while on a bike trip in Wisconsin with her husband.
“We were up bicycling on the Sparta Trail in Wisconsin and we came across this sign or stand outside this one-mile tunnel. We stopped and it said ‘Selfie Station’ and it had a shelf with instructions about how to do it,” she said. “We stood where it said to stand and we put our phone on a timer and it took a perfect picture of us standing in front of the tunnel. I looked at my husband and said ‘Oh, we’re doing that in Batavia.’”
McKenna admitted that at first, she didn’t know when the selfie station would become a reality as she saw the Sparta Trail sign “a couple of years ago.”
Wilson Street Bridge offered the perfect location for a selfie station for the Peace Bridge, organizers said.
Blane Hinz designed the sign for the new selfie station.
“I feel really good about creating something that is going to be a legacy here in Batavia,” he said. ‘We bought our first home here and I started my business after and I wanted to leave my mark on the town.”
The sign at the Wilson Street Bridge site, McKenna said, cost of about $1,000.
“It’s a very simple, fun thing that makes a good, positive story and we wanted to do it right before Memorial Day because we knew a lot of people will be out,” she said of the selfie station. “We partnered with the city because it’s on their property.”
The selfie station allows visitors to take pictures of the Peace Bridge, which came to be called that thanks to the Peace on Earth sign hung on it years ago by local barber Craig Foltos, who predictably was on hand Thursday for the selfie station unveiling.
“There’s no such thing as too much peace in the world. Can you have such a thing as too much peace?” Foltos asked. “I think if it (the selfie station) helps people smile – I mean, there’s been thousands of Christmas cards made at that spot every year and I hope now there will be even more.”
City officials including Mayor Jeff Schielke and Batavia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Margaret Perreault took part in the celebration Thursday for the new selfie station.
“I think this is a wonderful idea especially as it focuses on our Peace on Earth project and bringing more attention to it,” Perreault said. “It’s a great place for people to come down and enjoy what we have on the river and put Batavia in their memory box.”
“This is just another way for the city of Batavia to step into the world of technology and we’re here to enhance that idea and encourage other people to come down here and (take pictures),” said Schielke. “With the holidays and things like the prom we already see people coming down here all dressed up and wanting to take their picture. There’s a big legacy of people wanting to take pictures at locations like this.”
For those looking to take pictures at the new site, #bataviapeacebridge is the official hashtag.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
