With the advent of Sculpture Tour, not only does it bring 25+ sculptures to downtown Eau Claire every year, but the public’s favorites will actually stay in the city permanently. Well after a few months of voting, the results are in and the consensus for this year’s People’s Choice is High Five, a Great Dane piece by Louise Peterson. Though the work is one of the most expensive of this year’s batch ($20,000), Peterson has agreed to sell it at half price due to the “support of an entire city and community engaged in bringing more art and sculptures free to all people in the Chippewa Valley and its visitors.” High Five narrowly beat out the competition by 21 votes, and the location of the piece will be deliberated by the city, but likely will be in a public area such as a park. The voting ballots and boxes weren’t out right away this year, and some ran out over summer, so Sculpture Tour organizers have said future People’s Choice operations will run smoother. A few days before word got round about the People’s Choice winner, another sculpture in the tour got purchased by a local resident. Carol Cunningham’s Check Up ($5,900), which depicts a boy and a dog, will stay in Eau Claire, and others will remain for sale through spring, when a new batch shuffles in. See tour brochures or SculptureTour.com for more info, and be sure to toss up your hand when you pass the Acoustic Café in honor of our new bronze resident.