Fire hydrants custom painted by city worker coming to Milwaukee Bucks arena district

Most days, Chad Schuster runs a backhoe and leads a crew for the Milwaukee Water Works. He also has an artistic flair that he explores doing tattoos and decorating shoes.

Last fall, on a whim, Schuster had a little fun painting a fire hydrant — on his own — in a tribute to the Milwaukee Bucks and their new downtown arena.

The colorful design included Bango and a half of a basketball that covered the dome-shaped top of the hydrant.

"I brought it in to work to show it to them for fun," said Schuster, who spent 40 to 50 hours on the project.

The one-off effort drew attention, including that of his boss, Water Works Superintendent Jennifer Gonda. She bumped into Bucks President Peter Feigin, mentioned the "Bucks hydrant" and Schuster's little side project became something much larger.

"It was love at first sight," Feigin said. "It was a perfect piece of public art — so cool."

Feigin and Gonda cooked up a deal. The city needed to install 15 new hydrants around the Bucks new $524 million arena, and the Bucks wanted the area to have a distinctive, welcoming feel.

"It's got that thoughtful attention to detail that we want the district to be about," said Feigin, who displayed the original Schuster hydrant in his office for months.

"We are always looking for ways to make this area feel less commercial and more customized and unique as possible."

Gonda got back to her worker with unusual marching orders: We need 14 more Bucks hydrants and Schuster needed to get them designed and painted in about three weeks.

Schuster was stunned by the request — and a little bit alarmed by the quick turnaround.

"They gave me some helpers and that made doing them a lot easier — and faster," he said. 

"I did it for fun and the next thing you know, she took it to a whole new level."

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The project brought with it a benefit for the city — the Bucks agreed to pay $30,000 for installation and to maintain the hydrants for four years, said Barry Baum, the team's senior vice president for communications.

Water Works coordinated with the Fire Department to ensure the custom painted hydrants didn't create any confusion, Gonda said.

The first batch of the hydrants are set to be installed Monday.

"We're hoping the buzz around this will continue," said Gonda, who indicated the department would consider similar hydrant projects in other parts of the city.

The first in the ring of hydrants will be visible to motorists heading east on McKinley Boulevard near the arena.

"When you see these, you know you're close," Schuster said.

Feigin said the Bucks made some small tweaks to the use of logos but were largely hands-off when it came to Schuster's work.

"It sounds kind of silly — it's just a fire hydrant," Feigin said.  "But it's a passion project for this guy and we love it."