Last November, Sarah Pettit’s then 16-month-old daughter Audrey was enthralled with carolers singing at the 50th and France annual tree-lighting ceremony. She ran around in front of them, a pom on her knit hat bouncing joyfully behind her. Pettit thought the scene was cute and was able to capture the moment with her iPhone camera. She later submitted the photo to the 2016 Images of Edina photo contest and won in the contest’s Places category, showing a wonderful image of how much people enjoy Edina’s popular shopping district.
Pettit is an active-duty member of the U.S. Navy and typically only lives in places for a short time. “We like to maximize being a part of whatever community we’re in,” she says of twice attending the tree-lighting ceremony. Pettit’s frequent travel means that she also likes taking lots of landscape photos. “But mostly, I take a zillion pictures of my kids,” she says. Pettit has only entered one other photo contest with a picture of her older son when he was 16 months old. “He was walking in a snowsuit against a backdrop of huge trees in Montana,” Pettit says. That photo didn’t win a prize but it is beloved, framed and hanging on Pettit’s wall at home.
Pettit’s award-winning photo of little Audrey at 50th and France will certainly be appreciated by our community long after her family is relocated to Texas later this month. Edina was home to the Pettit family for only a short time, but we’re sure glad they enjoyed living here and that they’ve shared a piece of that joy in this photo.
