PENNEY FARMS – At the town’s Old Fashioned Day last weekend, the trees were covered in a form of unique graffiti: swaths of yarn.

Penney Farms resident Skeeter Tower described the process as labor-intensive, but the hours of work paid off, she said.

“People were pretty excited to see it,” Tower said. “A lot of people were taking pictures.”

First, a target is selected to cover. Then, the yarn bombers measure the circumference of a tree’s limbs. Crochet and yarn specialists are engaged, and once the piece is completed, hours of applying the yarn to the leaves occur.

Tower said the two large pieces took three weeks to make and 10 hours to apply. The finished article resembles something from a Dr. Suess book or a snake-esque pattern, meant to be eye-catching.

“The trees are beautiful themselves; that’s one of the things we wanted to call attention to,” Tower said.

Tower was helped by Norma Brown, a resident with a long history of community work.

“(Brown) has a heart of gold and works hard to maintain contact with residents … like with this yarn bombing project,” Tower said.

The yarn is removable and Tower said she wants to preserve the art with no damage so it can be reused.

Last weekend, the yarn was exposed to some rain, but it dried quickly. The pieces were cleaned and removed after a brief period to prevent damage by bugs, Tower said.

“It didn’t damage them at all,” she said.

Originally from Western New York state, Tower said she learned of yard bombing in an art class, where the goal was to draw attention to historic houses. The practice is used from Alberta to Australia and “yarn bombed” pieces include buildings, statues and buses. International Yarnbombing Day is June 11.

“It would draw attention to a historic house and it came to be a tradition,” she said.