Clearfield City was established in 1922. Its military roots run deep as home to the West Gate of Hill Air Force Base and as a U.S. Naval Supply Depot during WWII. The depot is now the Freeport Center. Clearfield is embracing that history and has rebranded itself as “Utah’s Military City.” As part of the initiative, nine jet statues will be installed around the city.

“We’ve worked hard to revitalize the downtown area,” said City Communication Manager, Shaundra Rushton. “We wanted to bring new life to it with military public art and the rebrand and roll them out together.”

Rushton said they knew they wanted it to be jets that have all been stationed at Hill. “There are nine jets.There are three different types, F-16, F-35 and A-10. The statues are being painted by Utah artists and sponsored by local organizations.”

Ogden has done a lot of work on their downtown too, she said. “They have fiberglass horses. It’s the same sculptor that is doing ours. He’s only done animals. He’s never done jets before so it's been fun to work with him on the jets.”

Brandon Naegle is one of the artists working on the statues. “I work at Hill Air Force Base as a civilian,” he said. “I enjoy working around the military so these planes are a perfect fit. I volunteer at the Hill Aerospace Museum on the restoration team for the aircraft on display.”

The design has been a collaboration with the company that is sponsoring the planes, he said. “We met and worked on what their brand is and how to represent that and put their logos on it.” 

Naegle makes rough sketches and then digitally presents them with mockup ideas. “They decide what they like or don’t like and what changes they want made.”

The sponsor designs he is working on are Bravada Apartments, MIDA (Military Installation Development Authority) and 47G. “I did a lot of masking and stencil work on the Bravada plane,” he said. “It has the same colors as their branding. The facility is very modern with geometric shapes that come into play. It represents the modernization of Clearfield.”

MIDA is a purple plane, Naegle said. “They’re developing a lot of land near Falcon Hill. They’ve also developed things near Park City. They wanted the design to have mountains, a sunset and skiers to represent what they do with Utah scenery. It’s 90% freehand airbrush.”

Naegle has painted the 47G black with a portrait of Sen. Jake Garn on the wing. “They do aerospace and high tech software,” he said. “They’re a cutting edge company and wanted Jake Garn on it as a naval pilot. It also shows the space shuttle launch as a tribute to history and the progression toward bigger and better things.”

Artist Brooke Facer is painting two F-35s and an F-16 for Northern Wasatch Association of Realtors, Weber State Davis and Woodbury Corporation. “I’ve got three different clients,” she said. “The realtors told me to do what I want, they just wanted something with a home. WSU and Woodbury met as a committee and went through several rounds of design meetings. It was tough but they finally decided on something.”

The realtors’ plane is covered in bright colors, WSU wanted a fighter jet and something that when someone looks at it they know it’s WSU, she said. “It's a purple camo with cougar scratches. It will be pretty awesome.”

They’ve all been so good to work with, Facer said. “It’s been fun. I estimate by the end I will have spent 40 to 50 hours on each one.”

“There has been 1 million square feet or 40 football fields of new businesses, public park spaces and housing as part of this revitalization project,” said Rushton. “We’re now seeing this come to life. We feel like the public art and branding work together to show progress and a new identity for Clearfield.”

“I love the public art project,” said Facer. “It’ll get people outside to walk around and that’s good for your mental health.”