Just in time for one of the biggest events of the year in Marshalltown, visitors at Friday night’s Harvest Market on 13th Street will notice a unique new sign encouraging them to snap a picture — with plenty more on the way in the near future.

The first “Selfie Sign,” located near The Chop Shop and its mural on the north wall, features instructions in English, Spanish and Burmese and is sponsored by the Arts + Culture Alliance (ACA) and a grant from the Iowa Arts Council through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) with a local match from the Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation. ACA Executive Director Amber Danielson said there are similar signs in other communities across the state, and she was excited to help bring the initiative to Marshalltown.

“Especially knowing that we have so many unique and creative fun spots that we see lots of people taking photos in front of, we felt like this was an opportunity for us to invite the community to help us spread the word about that work that we’re doing and obviously have opportunities for photo ops,” Danielson said. “It’s part of our call to action, takepART Marshalltown, inviting the community to take part in it.”

A total of 10 signs have been created, but the 13th Street District sign is the first and only to be installed thus far, with other locations to be announced and installed by the end of the year and plans to save some for the still in progress Linn Creek District projects. The goal is to eventually make more.

“There’s gonna be a couple downtown. It’s kind of spread out evenly throughout the community — some in front of public art, some just in creative and unique places. We’re looking at doing one at the Roundhouse, you know, places where people often stop by, good photo ops and not just for residents but also for people who are popping into our community too,” Danielson said.

While Marshalltown has been known as a bilingual community for some time now, Danielson was excited to add a third language to the sign — as is often noted, at least 50 languages are spoken within the Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) — with hopes of including even more in the future. After the sign was installed Thursday morning, she said people were already stopping by to check it out, and the location next to the mural encourages both individuals and large groups to snap their favorite selfies.

“We did partner with the 13th Street District knowing that it would be up by tomorrow’s event, so they are setting up the event to allow for space for people to be able to pop in and use it,” she said.

Conversations are already underway with other community partners about future selfie sign locations, and a map will likely be posted on social media to help people find all of them. Danielson was also excited to report that they were created 100 percent locally with metal work from Central Iowa Machine Shop and signage from Sign Creations, both Marshalltown based companies.

“They were very intentionally and strategically made so that they can be very maintenance friendly since we do live in Iowa, and they’re gonna be outdoors so that we can make them last for years to come,” she said.