A Bonus for Voting Early

I went to vote early at the Frogtown* Community Center on Thursday. The building opened in fall 2019, but I haven't been there before, so the ingenious, colorful terrazzo floor was a surprise to me.

Frogs, water, and lily pads are the theme:

When you reach the hallway that leads back to the community room (where voting was being held), there's a series of figures that starts with a stylized tadpole and grows into a frog:

According to the city's website, three Saint Paul artists — Tou Yia Xiong, Myc Dazzle, and Megan Tate — created the design (though based on their styles it looks as though Xiong is the primary illustrator), and a terrazzo company from Menomonie, Wis., did the installation over five weeks. (Here's the company's write-up, with better photos than mine.)

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* The origin of Saint Paul's Frogtown neighborhood is disputed. It may be because it was a wetland with a lot of frogs, or it may be because there were a lot of French/French Canadian residents in its early days. Or both. These days it's a racially and ethnically diverse area