Deb Fahy, left, and Betsy Sweet, both Hallowell residents, pose Wednesday beside the “Hopeful” sign at Hallowell City Hall. Artist Charlie Hewitt, a Lewiston native, has given the sign to the city as a gift. Sweet says the sign helps reinforce the sense of community in the small city. “This is just a reminder, a daily reminder, of the importance of that connection with each other.” Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

HALLOWELL — The “Hopeful” sign fixed to the Winthrop Street side of City Hall — one of dozens displayed in prominent locations throughout the Northeast — will stay permanently, city officials decided Monday evening.

The Hallowell City Council voted Monday evening to accept the sign as a gift from the sculptor, Charlie Hewitt. The sign, defined by colorful, bulb-lit letters, has become an appreciated symbol in several other towns and cities in Maine — including Hewitt’s hometown of Lewiston, where a large version of the logo sat at the site of the old Bates No. 5 mill.

Augusta, Portland, New York City and many other cities in seven different states have displayed one of Hewitt’s signs, either temporarily or permanently. One sign is on display in western Ukraine. The Lewiston sign was even shown briefly during President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony.

Hallowell’s sign was first displayed in the aftermath of the December 2023 flood. When the allotted time ran out for a sign that Hewitt was displaying at the Blaine House in Augusta — separate from the bigger sign that now sits in downtown Augusta — Hallowell resident Alex AuCoin asked Hewitt if he would lend it to the city for an event, which he did for a short time.

But late last year, after meeting with AuCoin and Hallowell resident Betsy Sweet, Hewitt decided to gift the sign to the city permanently. The signs are valued between $12,000 and $20,000, but Hallowell’s was given by Hewitt for free.

“I figured it should have a permanent home there,” Hewitt said. “It’s another unique small town in Maine. It’s got a unique community, it’s quite special. The one in Augusta, it’s not far away, so it’s duplicated in a way, but it’s a different size, a different kind of small-town, Main Street kind of format.”

Hewitt said he sometimes struggles to keep his artist ego in check with the project. The “Hopeful” signs are not meant to be about him, he said, and that kind of separation from his work has allowed him to connect more with his responsibility to the communities he is a part of.

Lewiston artist Charlie Hewitt, right, and Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline dedicate a “Hopeful” sign Feb. 26, 2024, at City Hall in Lewiston that was later sent to Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Hewitt recently gifted a “Hopeful” sign to the city of Hallowell, adding to the communities in Maine and throughout the world that display them. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

“I’ve had to give myself over to this new way of thinking, which has enabled me to think a lot about my relationship to my community, what I can as an artist do, to participate, to be an activist and get my narrative clear,” Hewitt said. “I don’t have to do that with everything I do, but with this particular thing I feel responsible for whether people care about this conversation.”

It’s that community ideal that Hewitt said he hopes to foster through the displays. In a quickly dividing world, he said, a sense of hope can most readily be found in tight communities like Hallowell.

Sweet said she thought Hallowell was the perfect place for a “Hopeful” sign: Not only does the installation reflect Hallowell’s reputation as an arts-loving city, it embodies the spirit residents showed after the December 2023 flood, when the sign first went up.

“We all ran downtown to see what we could do to help the stores pack up their stuff in little bags and get out of there before the waters came,” Sweet said. “I just think that that’s been who we are. I think this is just a reminder, a daily reminder, of the importance of that connection with each other.”

The “Hopeful” sign is seen Wednesday on the balcony at Hallowell City Hall on Winthrop Street. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The sign will be permanently displayed at City Hall, per the recommendation of Hallowell’s Arts and Cultural Committee. Sweet said she and other members of the committee are exploring ways to pay for maintenance and utility costs through donations to ensure the sign can stay in such a prominent location.

Hewitt said he hopes to soon create a “trail” of the “Hopeful” signs across Maine — a route that Mainers and tourists can take to visit each display in the state. He said he wants Maine to be a beacon to the rest of the world, showing that holding onto hope is the only way to keep pushing on.

“I think it even plays into what’s going on in Los Angeles as we speak,” Hewitt said. “Because the only way that’s ever coming back — if you just look at the devastation, you walk away, but if you have a vision, and you know tomorrow’s going to be better for your children, you get up and start cleaning up and rebuilding.”