Story and photos
by Robin Richards

Our pets, whether a dog, cat or many others big and small, give us their unconditional love, make us laugh, lick away our tears, keep us safe and leave forever paw prints on our hearts. All they ask from us is to make sure they are fed, given shelter and loved in return. Our pets are family. Two Fairfield Bay women have made it their mission to paint those precious pet stories on fire hydrants throughout the city while giving back to the community.

Lisa Duggan wanted to change her propane tank from drab to beautiful, but the research to make that change took her in an unexpected direction.

“While researching about painting my propane tank, I noticed a lot of photos where people painted fire hydrants locally,” Duggan said. “I knew I wanted to work with animals. Then I suddenly knew that was what I was going to do. I wanted to paint Fairfield Bay’s fire hydrants that celebrated the pets in our lives.”

Duggan had to get permission from the city before her idea could come to fruition. “I started with the mayor, and he loved the idea. Then I spoke with Fire Chief Leo Brandmeyer, who also serves on the Fairfield Bay Animal Protection League board of directors, and he approved the idea. Just when it looked like everything was coming together, the community water department had concerns about paint seeping into the fire hydrant plug threads and causing the plug to stick. I finally got approval if we used oil paints and extra care was applied when painting around the plugs.”

Duggan knew this project would need more than one person, plus her art skills were limited. She started searching for another artist who could help paint in 3D. A friend introduced her to Pamma Henderson, a local retired art educator who believed in taking art out of the classroom and into the community. “Pamma was dropped from the heavens for me,” Duggan said. “She rescued me, and we have become best friends.”

In June 2016, the pair started Hydrants for a Cause. Fairfield Bay has 250 hydrants throughout the city. Hydrants are available for adoption by an individual or a group for two years at $100 and can be readopted for another two years at the same cost. For the adoption fee, Duggan and Henderson add a detailed painting of a living pet or one that memorializes a deceased pet onto the hydrant. The paintings are not limited to pets. An in memoriam for a veteran or other family member can be painted, too. A hydrant can be painted with whatever the adoptee would like to see. A hydrant adopted for $50 will receive a freestyle painting. Presently, 50 hydrants are adopted and painted, plus there is a one-year waiting list for adopted hydrants to be painted.

Hydrants for a Cause donates the proceeds from the adoptions to the Fairfield Bay Animal Protection League. They have raised approximately $4,000.

People in the community have embraced their work and call them the “Fire Hydrant Girls.” Sometimes people will stop and share stories about their pets while Duggan and Henderson are painting.

“We get tearful reactions to the finished hydrants. Positive feedback comes from everywhere,” Duggan said.

Hydrants for a Cause now has an international following, too. They received a call from a Fairfield Bay resident, and she explained her sister in England (United Kingdom) saw the photos on the Hydrants for a Cause Facebook page. She wants a painting of her Boxer in a British Pub on her adopted hydrant.

Sandy Olson, a widow, experienced two crises in 2016. In the midst of those crises, Chui, a Chihuahua mix adopted from the Fairfield Bay Animal Protection League, was her source of strength. “He was my constant companion through everything I experienced. It was his love and constant companionship that helped me through it all. He never left my side. I don’t think I could have endured it all without him,” she said.

Olson honored Chui with his portrait on her adopted fire hydrant with a bit of a twist added by Duggan and Henderson. Chui is holding a margarita glass.

Charlotte Rierson relies on Bella, a Schnauzer mix with a little bit of Maltese sprinkled in, to be her service dog and constant companion. Rierson had Bella painted on her adopted fire hydrant near her home with a painter’s palette on the back of the hydrant and the words “dedicated to all service dogs” on top.

Many more stories and photos of these amazing, colorful fire hydrants are told on their Fairfield-Bay-Hydrants-for-a-Cause page on Facebook.