Squirrels find homes at a pair of local parks

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today
Cindy Aguirre

(Seguin) — In less than a month, not one but two new squirrels have been added to Seguin’s Squirrel Trail Program.

The city of Seguin welcomes squirrels #7 and #8. The art projects are part of the mix of creative larger than life stone squirrels that are being sponsored publicly and placed at various locations around town.

Unveiled in late November was River Guardian. Casually relaxing in a pair of cutoff jeans and a white t-shirt, River Guardian, who is also sitting on a disc for disc golf welcomes the community at the starting point of the walking trail located on the east side of Max Starcke Park. The squirrel sponsor was Andrea Hoffmann. Hoffmann is not only a member of the arts commission and parks and recreation board of directors but for the last several years has adopted the park for litter control.

Hoffmann, who commissioned San Marcos Artist Rene Perez for the job says there was never any question that she wanted to participate in the program and is thrilled by the final product.

“It just seemed like a fun way to bring people to Seguin and show that we are a fun town and creative and have a good personality here. So, it wasn’t even a question for me if I wanted to participate in this. Rene did a fantastic job. This is something that he does a lot. He’s done some of this stuff in San Marcos but I’m over the moon about the details and the anti-littering theme. I think he did a great job,” said Hoffmann.

Perez, who has done similar work in other communities, says he is honored to have created River Guardian – bringing a message of both recreation and conservation to Seguin.

“She brought me out here and she said she wanted a river and trees and things like that and I told her, I like these statues when cities make them but what I don’t like about them is they are always cluttered with a lot of images just meshed together and I was like I’m going to use this sculpture as it is and work with it, if that’s okay? That’s when I came up with outfit and all the messages about just respecting the river and not to trash the river and keep our waterways clean in Texas. I always put that message a lot in San Marcos on the river over there so I’m really happy to spread the message over here to Seguin,” said Perez.

As River Guardian works to welcome families to Starcke Park, the city’s latest squirrel just unveiled Friday sits at the south end of the footbridge at Park West.

Here sits squirrel #8 Happy. Happy was brought to a colorful life thanks to a band of anonymous friends who wanted to remember their special friend Marie Jo Billnitzer and all teachers in the area.

Taking the lead and speaking for the group was Whitney. Whitney spoke to those in attendance for the unveiling. She says the sponsors asked her to speak about the wonderful woman who was a friend, teacher, mentor, colleague, servant leader, faithful child of God, artist, and creative spirit.

“I worked with another group on a bench for the Bauer Park to honor our friend who had died. I said, do you want to do a bench like that? And she said, ‘No. I really didn’t want to but she said what about a squirrel?’ A squirrel, of course — and it was perfect because Marie Jo was an artist. She was just larger than life. She was involved in everything. She was a fabulous woman, a great friend and she raised these four beautiful children. She was my husband’s kindergarten teacher and after she became a widow, she knew that I was off on Fridays and we’d take off and go to art museums and other things like that and then her very good friend is Sandra and they would go to teacher conferences together or they would go to a retreat and do painting and art things,” said Whitney.

On hand for the tribute were Billnitzer’s family which included Beth Billnitzer, Marie Jo’s daughter-in-law.

Beth was commissioned by the group of friends to paint Happy. During the event, Beth explained her vision for the design.

“First of all, I knew that it was going to memorialize Marie Jo Billnitzer and as my mother-in-law, I knew her and so I knew how she loved children and she was many people’s teacher from Seguin. She taught here for so long. So, I came here to the park to look at the park kind of with her eyes and see like what she would have seen and she would have seen the happy children playing, the skating, the splashing and all of that and it was very joyful and I saw a family with a piñata and they were having a birthday and I thought, she would have just admired that whole vibe so I tried to show that on the squirrel. The squirrel is reflecting the environment here,” said Beth.

Beth, an art teacher and artist, says even she has claimed a favorite part of the squirrel and hopes families will also feel the joy when they meet Happy.

“The first thing I would say is making the piñata pattern was something I’ve never done before and so I tried several things to see if it worked and I’m really pleased with how it worked out. I think that texture is super nice but my favorite detail on the squirrel is the kids in the splash pad. I captured the joy that those kids were having just to be splashing in the water. It was a warm day when we were here in June and you know what that is like here in Seguin and they were just really enjoying it,” said Beth.

The program has grown to 24 squirrels – all being prepared for future unveiling over the next couple of years.

The opportunity to sponsor a squirrel is also still available. The cost is $2,500 per squirrel. Each sponsor will also need to cover the cost of the artist.

Those interested in participating in the program are asked to contact the Seguin Main Street Program at 830-401-2448.

Other squirrel locations include the Seguin Public Library, Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, Schertz Bank & Trust, Seguin’s Central Park and the Hike and Bike Trail just behind St. James Catholic Church and The Meservey Group PLLC.

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