City of Owensboro 2019 Christmas cards are now on sale. Designed by local artist Aaron Kizer, this year’s card features the “Owensbear” wearing a knitted hat and waving in front of the downtown bridge and a Christmas tree, surrounded by falling snow.
This marks the City’s 31st annual Christmas card sale. Cards can be purchased for $2 each and are available at Owensboro City Hall, located at 101 East Fourth Street.
Executive Assistant to the Mayor Adrienne Carrico said there are a limited number of 2019 Christmas cards for sale, but that there’s still time to purchase one or more before the holidays.
“They are on sale while supplies last, but we have plenty on hand to sell at this time,” she said.
Local artist Rex Robinson had designed, drawn and painted many of the City’s previous Christmas cards, but Mayor Tom Watson decided it was time to give a different artist a shot to design this one.
City officials asked Kizer to design a card that would represent the City of Owensboro while also giving the artist free rein to be creative.
Kizer, 37, was inspired to create the Owensbear by dipping into fond holiday memories from his childhood. Kizer said his mother, an avid collector of the City’s annual Christmas cards, would be thrilled to know her son had been chosen to create one.
“It’s a huge honor for me,” he said at a recent City Commission meeting. “I feel like Christmas is more about the kids than the adults — the older we get, the more stressful Christmas becomes. But when I was younger, my mom always used to put this Santa Bear out. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but all I knew was that, when the Santa Bear was out by the tree, it was becoming Christmastime.”
Kizer said he wanted to recreate the Santa Bear image to give today’s young children a tangible reminder of the spirit of Christmas — something to look back on fondly as they grow older — in the same way his mother’s Santa Bear created that childhood reminiscence for him.
