One woman wonders: Where is Chesapeake's heron?

CHESAPEAKE

In 2006, a committee secretly decided on the city's new symbol, which was supposed to be Chesapeake's answer to Norfolk's mermaid. Even the names of committee members were kept secret by City Treasurer Barbara Carraway, who refused to reveal the symbol for four months until the heron was unveiled at a ceremony at Greenbrier Mall.

Three years later, however, the heron remains very much a secret to most of Chesapeake.

Only one Chesapeake business has installed one of the 6-foot-tall fiberglass birds. Norfolk had 60 mermaid statues installed within nine months of launching the project in 1999.

Unlike Norfolk's mermaid, the heron is not on Chesapeake's main Web page. Citing the economy, Chesapeake officials decided last month not to include a heron in the repainting of a water tower in Great Bridge.

"It sort of floundered, which isn't something that a heron should be doing," said Carol Praissman, who chairs the city's Public Art Committee and was on the committee that chose the heron.

For the past three years, as momentum faded, Carraway has been a one-woman sales team for the heron. She sold 100 heron Christmas ornaments in 2007, as well as 70 heron lapel pins. She's constantly imagining places to show off the bird: on flags, water towers, bridges, parks. At engagements, she seeks out corporate executives who might have the cash to sponsor a heron statue.

She admits that creating a flock of fiberglass birds around Chesapeake has become a mission.

"I kept it alive," she said. "I'm very devoted to it. I'll do whatever it takes."

The biggest problem, she said, was that it took three years to get enough applicants for a committee that was supposed to market the symbol. That committee started meeting this year, is developing a marketing plan, and has been handing out information at events such as the Independence Day concert July 3.

"The word's just not out there yet," said Melanie Walker, a member of the marketing committee.

Out of 300 people Walker approached on July 3, maybe 25 knew Chesapeake's symbol was the heron, she said.

There are several theories as to why the bird hasn't taken off.

"They could have probably grabbed on to some sort of marketing shtick right at the beginning, and they didn't. So now it's slow and evolving," said Carol Abramson, former chairwoman of the city's Fine Arts Commission and a member of the committee that selected the heron.

Abramson and others on that committee are sure they chose the right symbol. The heron is a beautiful bird, they say, and it can be found in all parts of Chesapeake. Carraway and others have said the bird symbolizes peace and quiet but is always hard at work.

But others find the choice of the heron puzzling.

"I find it a little hard to identify with a blue heron," said City Councilman Rick West. "Are we known for blue herons?"

Renee Righetti, who has lived in Chesapeake for 36 years, had to Google the great blue heron when she learned last week that it was the city symbol.

"That's not a bird I see often, and I live out in the country," she said. "This is more like something you see on lakefront property."

As the new marketing committee began meeting this year, Carraway said the effort is gaining back some momentum. The first "bird on parade" was installed at a BB&T bank in February. A large fiberglass bird has been sold to Wal-Mart in Edinburgh. Tidewater Community College will sponsor a heron at its Chesapeake campus. The "Majestic" version of the statues cost $3,500 each and a smaller version is $300.

Carraway and others who helped choose the symbol say it's only a matter of time before heron statues pop up all over Chesapeake.

"When enough people see it's accepted, they will jump on the bandwagon," Praissman said. "Give it two more years."

Mike Saewitz, (757) 222-5207, mike.saewitz@pilotonline.com