There is a lot more to Gainesville than Gators football, and a local company wants to give Alachua County residents a chance to express it.
Spirit326.com, a branch of the local print shop Dragonfly Graphics, is hosting a T-shirt design contest for local artists. The winner's shirt design will be released in December in the company's new Gainesville Nostalgia collection.
Aimee Anderson, 35, marketing director at Dragonfly Graphics, said the Gainesville Nostalgia collection is geared toward people who live in Gainesville and want to support the community.
"We want people to show off their pride," she said. "But we also want to do it in a way that is not just about orange and blue and about the Gators."
Anderson cited a number of ideas already in process for the page including a shirt for the 34th Street Wall and one for the UF Bat House. A Gainesville mainstay for 25 years, the company wants to highlight things people can reminisce about.
Dragonfly Graphics and Spirit326.com have been serving the Alachua County School Board, as well as private institutions, with dress code-appropriate T-shirts for years. Part of this service is giving back to the schools. With every item sold, the school receives 25 percent of the revenue.
Anderson said the company is sticking to the idea of giving back with the design contest. Fifty percent of sales received from the winning T-shirt will go to the artist's nonprofit organization of choice.
André Frattino, 27, an art education graduate student, liked this idea of giving back to the community.
"If I won, I would find a charity that is more geared toward the arts," he said. "I would want to give back to the arts field because we are just so underprivileged and underfunded. So I might pick something like funding art supplies for students."
Anderson said there are a few limitations to the contest because of the T-shirt printing procedure. There is a two-color limitation, and photography is not allowed. Other than that, artists are welcome to explore their creativity, she said.
Those interested in entering the contest can submit designs to Anderson at aimee@spirit326.com.
Joy Revels, owner of Dragonfly Graphics, screen-prints a design for a local school. The company makes about 150,000 screen-printed shirts a year.
