December 04, 2024
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4-foot sandwich sculpture could soon be downtown Sandwich attraction

DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau applying for $20K grant for proposed art installation

By Eric Schelkopf
Steve Carpenter, his daughter Chloe, 11 and friends Rosie, 8 and Ciara, 11 enjoy food during the Taste of Sandwich, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in downtown Sandwich.

Steve Carpenter, his daughter Chloe, 11 and friends Rosie, 8 and Ciara, 11 enjoy food during the Taste of Sandwich, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in downtown Sandwich. Sandwich is leaning into its name again with a proposed sandwich-themed art installation in the works. (Steven Buyansky for Shaw Local N/Steven Buyansky for Shaw Local N)

A much larger-than-life-sized sandwich art piece may soon be coming to downtown Sandwich.

The DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau is proposing the idea as a tourist attraction.

“We are very excited about this opportunity,” DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau marketing director Katherine McLaughlin said during the Dec. 2 Sandwich City Council Committee-of-the-Whole meeting. “It’s something we have been looking into for the last three years really.”

The project would be funded in part by the Illinois Office of Tourism. The DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to apply for about a $20,000 matching grant to help pay for the project.

Sycamore-based EggToy Studios would create the sandwich art installation, which would be approximately four feet high.

“They have done art installations all over the United States,” McLaughlin said. “It would be two big slices of bread. On one of the slices of bread would be lettuce and tomato and ‘Sandwich, Illinois,’ would be written across it.”

People would be able to step inside the sandwich art installation. She thinks the project would help bring more people to Sandwich.

“They’re getting out of their cars and taking a picture of a sandwich in Sandwich and hopefully grabbing a sandwich,” McLaughlin said.

As proposed, the art installation would be located on Railroad Street where the annual Taste of Sandwich is held. Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham said the city might have to do some infrastructure improvements to accommodate the project.

The DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau will apply for the grant this month. It should know in two or three months if it has been approved, she said.

If the bureau does not receive the grant, it still plans to move ahead with the project.

“We would love to still be able to create the sandwich, but would seek a large donor or multiple sponsorships,” McLaughlin said. “We are very invested and excited about this piece, but we will need financial assistance.”