From Chuck Berry and Tina Turner to Ozzie Smith and Dr. Donald M. Suggs, some of St. Louis’ most celebrated figures are getting a new place of honor — high above downtown streets.
Twenty-eight banners honoring notable St. Louis figures have gone up throughout downtown as part of the new City of Legends program, with plans to eventually expand the display to thousands of banners.
Cedric the Entertainer and Nelly are also among the names selected for the program. Organizers envision honoring about 250 people, with each honoree featured on five 7-foot banners displayed along different streets.
Organizers compared the City of Legends program to the St. Louis Walk of Fame, created by Joe Edwards in the Delmar Loop, describing the banners as more of an overhead tribute to the selected honorees.
Photo by Lawrence Bryant / St. Louis American
Steve Schankman, president of Contemporary Productions, said the initiative grew partly from efforts to beautify downtown following the loss of trees and changes to the area’s infrastructure.
The banners are also intended to remind residents and visitors of the people connected to St. Louis and the impact they have made locally and beyond. More than a dozen community members helped identify honorees from business, sports, entertainment, the arts and civic leadership.
“St. Louis has all these great assets,” Schankman said. “I’ve watched it for seven decades. I love this town, and what we need to do is wake up and realize what makes us so popular. There’s not another city in America, per capita, that has as many legends as we’re gonna have.”
Ron Kitchens, managing partner of Greater St. Louis Inc., said Suggs, publisher of The St. Louis American, was selected because of his continued impact on the city.
“When you look at the men and women who are having an impact or have had an impact on our city, who bring wealth and grace to our city, Don Suggs is one of those people,” Kitchens said.
Suggs, who was the only honoree to attend the initial unveiling, said he views the recognition as extending beyond himself to the people he has worked alongside throughout his career.
“It’s always been about the team, and we’ve got some extraordinary people who made a great contribution,” Suggs said. “Otherwise, there’d be no St. Louis American. So it’s not been about me. It’s been about them. I represent them, but I’m not the one. They are the ones.”
The banners are funded through corporate and organizational sponsorships, allowing the program to pay for itself, Schankman said. World Wide Technology sponsored the banner honoring Suggs near City Hall at Market and Tucker streets.
Jairo Villa, creative director at Contemporary Productions, said the team initially envisioned featuring several honorees on each banner before deciding that every legend should have an individual design.
“At first, we had the idea of creating banners with multiple legends on them,” Villa said. “When we went through the first round of creative, we realized it was kind of counter to the program to have multiple people on one banner. We really realized that everyone needed their own.”
That individualized approach also influenced how organizers plan to recognize the honorees. Although Suggs was the only legend at the unveiling, Villa said organizers plan to arrange individual opportunities for honorees to see and take photos with their banners.
“We didn’t want six or seven legends standing in line waiting for their moment in the sun,” Villa said.