A new sculpture made from firearms was unveiled Saturday at the Summer Pop Off Festival in Peekskill.
The Factoria at Charles Point showed off the new sculpture created by artist Geoff Feder as revelers enjoyed beer, wine and different types of foods.
The artistic and community effort was years in the making.
Factoria Managing partner Louie Lanza said he hopes the story behind the sculpture shows the community that people can make a difference. In 2018, he helped to raise $15,000 to fund a gun buyback program with the Peekskill Police Department.
"Through that $15,000, we gave it to the police department, and they had a gun drive, and got 200 guns off the streets," Lanza explained.
The police disassembled those guns and used them create a symbol of peace.
Feder says sculpting guns was something he had never done before, but he felt a great responsibility to create for his community.
"I'm humbled, I'm honored to be asked to be involved with something that was very community-organized," Feder said, who sculpted the universal symbol of a ribbon. "When you see a ribbon on someone's lapels, you've been noticing it's about awareness, and it's a symbol of peace, a symbol of a reminding remembrance and being kind of aware of what's going on."
Lanza hopes the sculpture allows people to realize that people and local businesses can make a difference in the communities.
"If I'm going to be here and I'm going to make money in Peekskill, I'm going to make sure the kids have a chance that they couldn't do and show them that it's not all about themselves, it's about the greater community," Lanza said.
Lanza hopes to host another summer event later this season.