Illustration by Etsuko Tada

Well, most of the porcine sculptures are long gone, but the "Gig" idea is returning to the Queen City in a different form this summer: The Big "Flower Power" Gig.

This time out, the idea is to decorate downtown with 200 to 400 sculpted flower pots. Creative wizards are working on the pots as we speak. And, as before, hideous puns are encouraged in the naming of the painted creations. (You might recall that the fiberglass pig statues in 2000 featured monikers such as Hamlet, Pigaletto, Pigasso, Porkemon, Dr. Frankenswine, Pig-mailion and Road Hog.)

Flower Power judges will be looking for the same kind of creativity: Names already suggested include A Peony for Your Thoughts, Some Like It Hosta, The Violet Femmes, The Queen Mum and Mork From Orchid.

"We want to emphasize what's different this time around is that this is a horticultural event ... as much for garden lovers as for artists," stresses organizer Betsy Neyer, one of the producers behind the original Big Pig Gig. Neyer was hired by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society to pull off this year's Flower Power happening.

The flower pots go on display May 19 through Labor Day, in three different versions: A 3-foot-high fiberglass urn, a 40-inch-high fluted fiberglass vase or a wooden planter that's 3 feet square. The flower pots -- produced by the same company that did the fiberglass pigs for the Big Pig Gig -- cost $600 each and are paid for by corporate sponsors.

Artists are encouraged to use acrylic and latex paints that can endure the outdoor torments of summer. They're also welcome to expand on the pot's basic structure, adding any attachments, wings or other creative flourishes.

If you're an artist totally lacking in the green thumb department, don't panic. The dirty chore of actually planting flowers can be handled by Cincinnati Flower Growers, a trade association of professional landscapers and florists. The artists are asked to work in tandem with the florists on choosing appropriately colored annuals, perennials or tropicals to accentuate the art work.

And what about gardeners who aren't card-carrying artists?

"As I recall, we had quite a few participants in the Big Pig Gig who weren't card-carrying artists," Neyer says.

As Cincinnati seeks to recover from last year's rioting and its tarnished national image, perhaps a few dandelions and magnolias wouldn't hurt downtown's image.

Some sponsorships do remain open at $2,000, $5,000 and $10,000 each, depending on the company's desired placement on city streets. (Fountain Square, for instance, is considered prime exposure.) Sponsors can pay an additional $500 to keep the pot once the public art display ends after Labor Day.

"We just don't know yet if we will conclude with an auction," says Neyer, referring to the fact that many pig statuettes -- if unclaimed by the sponsor -- went on the block after the Big Pig Gig ended. That's right, those little piggies went to market, in an online auction on eBay labeled as an I.P.O. (Initial Pig Offering).

While the Horticultural Society is planning only 200 pots initially, keep in mind that only only 200 pigs were planned at first during the Big Pig Gig.

"We ended up with 435 pigs," notes Neyer of the unexpected enthusiasm for the project.

The pots will be watered and maintained all summer by an army of teen-agers hired and trained by the Horticultural Society. Does the society hope the job will spark some of the teens to eventually enter the floral industry?

"Absolutely," says Neyer, noting the industry is facing a manpower shortage.

Any profits from Flower Power will be used as, ahem, seed money to fund "Cincinnati Blooms," an ongoing Horticultural Society project. (The Big Pig Gig, for its part, certainly brought home the bacon, raising $858,000 for ArtWorks, its beneficiary.)

The society is supporting such city beautification endeavors as "Miracle Mile" (the 5,000 feet of flower boxes installed in Over-the-Rhine), "Beauty Marks" (planting flower gardens in the city's vacant lots and abandoned properties) and "Colors of the Earth" (a program which delivers seeds, soil and pots to underprivileged elementary school students).