The controversy over sculptures in front of two stores on Historic Ellicott City’s Main Street goes more than skin deep. Sometimes a peach and an eggplant are more than meets the emoji.
A INTERNATIONAL, BUT INCOMPLETE STORY
News outlets from Kansas City to Maine to England are running a story about The Wine Bin and Georgia Grace Café and the two sculptures by Eastern Shore artist Jan Kirsh installed in front of them. The stories suggest the sculptures must come down because they have explicit adult connotations and, to a lesser extent, conflict with the historic nature of the town. (In texting lingo, the eggplant and peach are often used to imply, well, “naughty bits.”)
That does not paint the full picture, however, as discussions with the artist, the Howard County Department of Zoning (DPZ), the county’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), and shop and building owners reveal.
None of the stories mentions that the sculptures’ owners had not gone through the process of getting or maintaining approval for either sculpture to be installed, which is required in the historic district. The Historic Preservation Commission’s FAQ page states, “If a property owner undertakes work that requires HPC approval, without the approval of the HPC, or if the work is not done appropriately based on the HPC’s approval, the alterations could be in violation of the County Code and subject to a code enforcement case.”
Also, it is unclear what HPC or DPZ, the department in charge of code enforcement, has told each merchant regarding removal of the sculptures. In fact, on Sept. 4, the HPC unanimously approved a retroactive application for “The Aubergine” to remain at The Wine Bin’s location (8390 Main Street) for no longer than 12 months, at which point it can reapply for it to remain again.
Furthermore, the primary reasons the commission did not approve a retroactive application for the “Giant Peach” sculpture had less to do with the emoji connotation and more to do with the size and placement of the piece. It is true that the HPC voted unanimously not to approve the retroactive application, but that was because of how big the piece was and how much of the front of the café it obscured. Commissioners agreed that had the application come before them prior to the sculpture being placed, they would have rejected it. The petitioner can either appeal that decision or reapply with a different location recommendation for approval.
AN ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT
DPZ spokesperson Kerry Lenny told Baltimore Fishbowl that the department received an anonymous zoning complaint about both sculptures. When they receive a complaint, Lenny said, the Zoning Code Enforcement team investigates and notifies the business if they find a violation exists.
“So, in this case, there was a violation. The remedy for that is that the owner of the artwork then submits an application to HPC (Historic Preservation Commission) requesting retroactive approval,” Lenny said. “The way the HPC works is that you’re supposed to get approval before you put it up, but in this case, it was put up [first], there was a code violation, and that prompted them to go back and apply.”
THE ART AND THE FUND
In 2015, sculptor Jan Kirsh’s “Aubergine” won The Howard County Arts Council ARTsites competition. As a result, it was installed in front of the Howard County Welcome Center on Main Street for 11 months, and then returned to the artist.
Enter The Fund for Art in Ellicott City. The nonprofit was founded in 2017, with Kimberly Egan as president at the time and three other board members.
“Kim Egan approached me, and I was very flattered at the time. She told me that the residents of Ellicott City missed my eggplant,” Kirsh told Baltimore Fishbowl. “They loved the piece, and as their very first piece of art, [they] wanted me to make an eggplant for them. I did, and it was installed, and it has been there since 2018.”
Kirsh said that within the last year, people from The Fund for Art in Ellicott City contacted her again, but this time to commission a giant peach. She noted it was not Egan, however, but people in the Reuwer family who reached out to her.
The “Giant Peach” was installed during the summer of 2025 in front of Georgia Grace Café at 8333 Main St., which is across the street from The Wine Bin. The “Aubergine” is in a recessed, covered location and blends in somewhat with The Wine Bin entrance’s décor. The peach sculpture in front of Georgia Grace is placed more prominently on the grass by the sidewalk. It blocks the view of a proportionally larger part of the building’s front, obscuring half of one side of the porch and a good part of one of the café’s windows.
Several members of the Reuwer family are involved with The Fund. In 2023, Lisa Reuwer took over as president of The Fund, and Megan Reuwer became treasurer and secretary, with no other officers listed. Don Reuwer, Megan’s father, filed retroactive applications for approval on behalf of The Fund with the HPC for both sculptures and attended the HPC’s Sept. 4 meeting representing The Fund. The Fund has only a Facebook page, which has not had a post since 2022, and their website link does not work.
Don Reuwer is president of Waverly Real Estate Group, LLC. He also manages and/or owns several properties on Ellicott City’s Main Street. He owns The Wine Bin building, but not the Georgia Grace Café property. He gathered hundreds of signatures and letters in support of allowing the sculptures to remain at their locations, and he is quoted in stories in The Baltimore Sun and on WBAL TV.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE MEETING
At the HPC’s meeting on Sept. 4, the retroactive applications were considered and discussed for approximately 40 minutes with Don Reuwer and Nicholas Johnson, a Main Street resident, present to speak in favor of approving the applications.
Reuwer said many of the merchants who favored keeping the art didn’t realize they needed to sign up by 3 p.m. to speak at the meeting. He requested the matter be tabled until the next meeting so that the many supporters on Main Street might have the chance to be heard. The commission denied that request because the application had already been presented.
Johnson echoed Reuwer’s reasons for wanting the sculptures to stay where they are, saying they are not intended to distract, but to attract, giving people a reason to enjoy the town.
“They don’t interfere with the properties that they’re in front of, and they do give people a reason to enjoy and interact with the town,” Johnson said. “And I think ultimately, as someone who’s had a business in this town for 27 years, any reason that we can give people to come visit and enjoy the town is going to be beneficial both to the town itself and also to the historic mission. If there aren’t people that enjoy what you’re preserving, then why are we preserving it?”
The commission’s discussion spanned topics from the risks of setting a precedent for retroactive approvals to the importance of public art, the fleeting nature of cultural trends, the impermanence of both shop owners and commissioners on the HPC, and the brass tacks of whether each sculpture complied with the size and color guidelines for what they would approve for something placed in front of a historic district storefront.
Commissioner Ben Barlow expressed frustration at the commission having been put in this position in the first place.
“I’m bothered by the fact that it went in without approval, and now we have lots of people on Facebook acting like it’s the commission tonight that is deciding the future of the peach and whether it can stay and whether it can go, and that’s not correct,” Barlow said. “This is Zoning (DPZ), who will be deciding whether the peach can stay. There’s no need for approval tonight. Zoning can take care of this. And maybe they say, ‘Hey, this is fine,’ but it’s Zoning. We don’t have any power to tell people that they have to take something down.”
Don Reuwer disputes that The Fund did not go through the proper procedures.
“Before the Peach was installed, my daughter, Megan Reuwer, who’s an attorney who is on the board of The Fund for Art in Ellicott City, went before the Historic Preservation Commission to present the peach,” Don Reuwer told Baltimore Fishbowl. “She presented to the Historic Commission some time ago, maybe four or five months ago.”
“[A]sk them for the staff report for that one, which was four or five months ago, you’ll see in there that they say they have no guidelines for art,” Reuwer said. “So, based on the fact that when she went there, they told her the staff report said there were no guidelines for art, we installed this. The Fund for Art in Ellicott City installed the peach where it is.”
However, there is no mention or record in previous months’ minutes of Megan Reuwer attending an HPC meeting to present the peach sculpture for approval. In April 2025 she attended the meeting to discuss moving proposed placement of the large heart previously approved for Tiber Park to be placed instead near the railroad bridge. The commission denied that application. (The heart is now displayed in front of Su Casa.) But, there was no mention whatsoever in the April 2025 minutes of the request or application for approval for the peach sculpture. Apart from the April 2025 meeting, there is no mention of Megan Reuwer’s presence at an HPC meeting from September 2024 through the present.
The April 2025 minutes also make no mention of “guidelines for art,” but as pictured above, Howard County Code states:
“The Guidelines currently do not have specific recommendations for public art, however, Chapter 10.C addresses items found within the public realm along the street and sidewalks and Section 16.607 of the Howard County Code contains the Commission’s Standards for Review.”
Ultimately, the commission voted unanimously to approve the retroactive application of the “Aubergine” for no longer than 12 months, at which point, Lenny told Baltimore Fishbowl, the owners can submit another application for additional time or another location.
The commission voted unanimously to deny the retroactive application of the “Giant Peach,” agreeing they would never have approved it in the first place had the proper procedure been followed.
COMMUNICATION FAILS?
Why, then, does the narrative remain that the merchants have been told they must remove the sculptures? Admittedly, the Howard County HPC’s Sept. 4 agenda is buried deeply in the government website, requiring at least four or five clicks to find and prior knowledge that HPC is part of Planning and Zoning. Neither the minutes from the meeting nor the video is available yet on the site, a full two weeks after the meeting has taken place. This reporter only received the video because Lenny sent it to her. So the results of the HPC’s votes are not readily available to the public.
However, Don Reuwer was present at the meeting for the entire discussion and the votes. He left the meeting knowing the “Aubergine” could remain and why the “Giant Peach” was not approved retroactively.
Yet, in subsequent news stories and social media posts, merchants and Reuwer continued to paint the HPC’s predominant issue as the potential emoji reference and possible detraction from the historic nature of the town. There are “Save the Peach and the Aubergine” signs along the street, as well. Are the merchants on Main Street, who seem overwhelmingly to want the sculptures to remain, aware of the HPC’s decisions?
In a Sept. 12 Facebook post, one full week after the vote allowing the sculpture to remain, The Wine Bin shared a news story about the conflict and stated, “Our Aubergine is under attack by Howard County Preservation Commission!”
Dave Carney, owner of The Wine Bin, told Baltimore Fishbowl he was unaware of any details regarding HPC’s decision and only knew what Ruewer told him. He also did not know that DPZ allows them to reapply for it to stay at the end of the approval period, nor did Don Reuwer.
“I was not actually aware,” Carney said. “I know he said it has to leave in a year, and it’s been here for two years. So they approved it for a year.”
He is not the landlord, nor the owner of the sculpture, so he is not required to handle the logistics of the public art and the details of keeping it approved. Carney just loves how the Aubergine matches his store’s colors, the beauty of the art, and how happy it makes passers-by and customers.
“People take selfies in front of it. We named our club, ‘The Aubergine Wine Club,’ and everything’s fine,” he said.
Paula Dwyer, owner of Georgia Grace Café and the building it’s in, also only knew what Ruewer had told her.
“He did say to myself, and today, from the Wine Bin, that the Aubergine has 12 months before it can go and the peach needs to go immediately,” Dwyer told Baltimore Fishbowl. “People think it’s great and fun, and it’s not doing any harm. It’s not causing traffic accidents or anything. It’s actually bringing more people to town, in a town that hasn’t had a lot of people come to it, because we’ve had two floods so close together…. So it’s just these little things, little changes to the street just make people want to visit us. We need that. We need business.”
The Wine Bin and Georgia Grace Café, are holding a fundraiser surrounding the dispute. Their joint Fall Wine Dinner, “The Eggplant & The Peach: A Celebration,” is a three-course meal that costs $135 per person.
WHAT BECOMES OF THE PEACH?
“The way our code enforcement works is that we always work towards abatement,” Lenny said. “So, we are trying to work out a resolution, that’s always our goal. So long as something is moving in a direction, they won’t be fined.… [If the petitioner submits] a new application with a different location, then as far as we’re concerned, the process is moving forward.”
This was news to Dwyer, who was relieved to learn she would not be fined while the appeals were in motion.
Both Reuwer and Dwyer believe the HPC is engaging in overreach.
“The bottom line is, when they have no guidelines for art and it’s based on their opinion, that becomes what’s known in legal circles as arbitrary and capricious,” Reuwer said. “How can you judge art when you have no guidelines to judge art?”
As for Kirsh’s art and legacy, the artist has decades of sculpture, art, and garden design that well pre-date the emoji trend. She knows very well there is nothing ahistorical about fruit nor vegetables. She lives on the Eastern Shore where the economy is agrarian, as she knows it is in Howard County.
Yet while secure in that knowledge, Kirsh is not thrilled about this controversy. She loves the fanciful nature of her sculptures and appreciates that they are beloved by Ellicott City residents and visitors alike. She takes her craft seriously, though, and is not happy about her work being associated with this emoji trend.
“I think the whole thing is, in my humble opinion, I think this is silly,” Kirsh said. “It is totally silly. And I’m just kind of dismayed.”
“I’m kind of hoping that it blows over,” Kirsh added. “I really wish that whimsy and history can live together very compatibly. I see no reason why that can’t happen.”
Here are two sculptures from the era Ellicott City was built, in case anyone’s interested in historical comparisons for lewdness. See: List of 1790s sculptures in the United States, wikimedia commons list:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:1790s_sculptures_in_the_United_States
Warning! The peach and eggplant are a lot tamer than those!