Public Art Thinks Pink 

On each episode we feature a different piece of public art in Beaver County—from painting to sculpture, from grand to demure, from serious to silly. Public artworks are significant expressions about who we are and what we care about. They commemorate people, places, and events. They recognize history.

And sometimes, public art is used to champion a cause, such as breast cancer awareness. On this episode, we take a look at the Monaca municipal water fountain located at George Washington Park on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

For many years now, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and many other health organizations, local governments, businesses, and individuals around the world have marked October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Breast cancer is a serious public health threat. It’s estimated that each day in Pennsylvania, 37 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, as of this year it has become the most common cancer diagnosed in America and around the world. Nearly 30% of all new cancers diagnosed in women will be breast cancers.

Fortunately, breast cancer is a very treatable disease but only if it is detected early before it can spread. Still, modern treatments can often control breast cancer for years even if it has spread—making it more important than ever to detect and treat the disease as early as possible.

Stopping breast cancer starts with awareness and education, and this is the role of our pink water fountains. They’re hard to miss, of course, which serves as a not-so-subtle reminder breast cancer can be beaten, but only with routine screenings and regular health care.

Our local reminder comes from a photograph by Tom Dicken taken on October 26, 2012. Unfortunately, we can’t recommend that you go see the water fountain at Monaca’s George Washington Plaza; that’s because it has been decommissioned since 2018. Flowers now grow where the water used to rise up and cascade. But we do recommend that during the month of October you visit any nearby public water fountain that has been turned pink as a reminder of breast cancer.  But do more than this, now: donate to a breast cancer related charity, and most important, please encourage your loved ones at risk for the disease to get screened and examined by a healthcare professional.