The City of Presidents public art project in downtown Rapid City has been a forum for a lot of statements, political and otherwise, over the years.

The 10-year project, in which life-sized bronze statues of all former U.S. presidents are being erected on downtown street corners,  has been a popular stop for tourists. I often see families making the rounds, checking out the sculptures and taking pictures.

But from time to time, the presidents get “accessorized” with baseball caps, bunny ears and soda pop cans. A few years ago, an antiwar group put blindfolds on several of the presidential statues. The accompanying note read: “It is time to take the blindfolds off! We must use our collective voices to ensure that we don’t have a War without end.”

Someone once hung a large sign around the neck of the George H.W. Bush statue at Sixth and Main streets. The sign said, “Will Work for World Power.” When President Ronald Reagan died, scores of people laid flowers, notes and other tributes at the feet of his statue at Sixth and St. Joseph Street.

And yesterday, to mark Women’s Equality Day, the local Democracy In Action group accessorized the presidents once again. Signs dangling from the necks of several statues pointed out the accomplishments and contributions of the presidents’ wives.

Women’s Equality Day, by the way, marks the anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote on Aug. 26, 1920.

A few years ago I asked John Lopez, one of the four sculptors who are creating the City of Presidents bronzes, what he thought of using the statues for political statements. He was fine with it — providing, of course, there’s no real damage to the pieces.

In fact, Lopez liked the idea of viewers interacting with the art to create a new message. “That’s pretty much what public art is all about,” he said.