‘Shop Safe, Eat Local, Love Ingleside’ Posters Series Launched To Boost Small Businesses

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A new poster series launched this week to encourage the public to support the neighborhood’s small businesses.

The colorful posters encourage neighborhood residents and visitors to shop safe, eat local and love Ingleside.

The posters were designed by local illustrators Chiara Di Martino, Juliana Lima and Neil Ballard and feature local landmarks such as the former El Rey theatre, Unity Plaza, Ingleside Presbyterian Church and familiar street scenes of the Ocean Avenue retail district.

Neil Ballard, an employee of Ocean Ale House and secretary-treasurer of the Ingleside Merchants Association, managed this project for Ocean Avenue Association, which paid for the project through funds raised from its Public Art Fund.

Ballard, an Ingleside resident of seven years, spoke about the restorative potential of community art projects such as this poster campaign.

“I really enjoyed working on this project because we got to pay artists to spread a positive message,” Ballard said. “I think that to support artists and local businesses is to invest in community.”

Di Martino enjoyed how this project gave her an opportunity to take a close and appreciative look at Ingleside.

“It was an incredible occasion to re-discover the beauty of every little corner, observe all the details that in a fast regular lifestyle can remain unnoticed,” Di Martino, an Ingleside resident, said. “Small businesses remain essential to the economic and social fabric of our community and we all must do our part to help them survive.”