For about three months, Lexington 2 Innovation Center students worked diligently to create a bike rack for Cayce’s Guignard Park, located at 964 Axtell Dr. The project was completed by nine students split into welding and fitting teams.

Preston Hook of the three-member fitting team told the Chronicle that this bike rack wasn’t a school project but rather came to fruition after a Cayce resident went to the city about a bike rack. 

The process itself included sketching out some ideas of what the city and resident wanted to see incorporated into the bike rack. The design ended up taking the shape of a bicycle, but one of the major concerns was that people could easily steal bikes where the wheel-side of the bike-shaped structure is. Multiple designs were drawn and a favorite was decided.

The students then joined city staff to determine the best spot for the bike rack. After the location was secured, they began the process of drawing out the full-scale rack, then the process of assembling began, with modifications being made as needed.

According to Hook, the materials used included pipe, square tubing, a flat bar, flux core wire, mig wire, electrodes and tig filler metal. 

The base of the bike rack is an outline of Cayce's city limits. In order to achieve this, the students used a plasma table to cut out sections of the shape before welding it together.

“It's just great the creativity that the students used to look at a functional piece of equipment that we needed [and] to make something that's fun, but also really highlights our city,” Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said.

Once the entire project was completed, the city took it to be powder coated and then installed it into a concrete pad at the park.

Partin told the Chronicle that art is an economic development engine because of its placemaking and ability to help people connect with their surroundings, make it their own and feel at home.

“[This] project was important to me because it is a landmark in the City of Cayce now that I can go back to and show people how and where I contributed to the project,” Hook said.