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City Survives Weekend Art Attack

Julia Meek
Mad Anthony Wayne couldn't outrun the yarn storming on Sunday, causing his trusty steed to take a direct blast of fiber fallout.

Fort Wayne's downtown was surprised by a full scale yarn bombing Sunday, leaving the area blanketed in mystery.

Credit Julia Meek
The variety of stitch-prints uncovered points to involvement of many additional undercover activists.

At 2:00 p.m. yesterday, guerilla knitters swarmed the city's arts campus, leaving over 1000 square feet of brightly colored, non-lethal textile trail in its wake.

Most of the explosion occurred in the Arts United plaza itself, covering pillars, benches and more than fifteen trees, though some of the kniffiti ric-crocheted into Freimann Square.

While General Anthony Wayne was unharmed, his horse took many multi-colored hits.

Identified only as members of "Operation Yarnworks," approximately ten agents were spotted in the area, but yarn ballistics reports suggest that up to forty fiber-arms makers, ranging in age from nine to ninety, were involved in the group's preparatory stich-ins earlier this year.

Credit Julia Meek
One reptilian installation was spotted slithering up a tree on the park's southern perimeter.

The knitty-gritty task force clamed to be within its arts installation rights, as part of the Art Speaks event, at the Arts United gallery.

Evidence indicates that the yarn storming may be connected to the 3rd annual Design Week Fort Wayne, which began today.

Taken in for questioning, Lauri Scholz attributed her obsession to the filament's addictive colors, claiming every skein to be "a new adventure" that has brought her to this present level of involvement.

Her partner in crochet crime, Michael Dickman, added that "crafting something tactile and physical fulfills a need that's not always met chatting with friends through texts."

This is the group's first know act of stitched-story art activism, though undisclosed sources report it to be one in a series of planned acts of public artitude.

Credit Julia meek
A small sampling of the tree branches, trunks and nearby benches affected by the yarn 'scrapnel.'

A Fort Wayne native, Julia is a radio host, graphic artist, and community volunteer, who has contributed to NIPR both on- and off-air for forty years. Besides being WBOI's arts & culture reporter, she currently co-produces and hosts Folktales and Meet the Music.