To help commemorate Illegal Pete's 25th Anniversary in 2020, Founder and President Pete Turner saw both the need to improve and enhance each of its restaurants, and the opportunity to partner with a variety of local artists to meet those needs. The pandemic delayed everyone's plans, and that was no different for Illegal Pete's, but heading into more hopeful days of early 2021 it seemed exceedingly important to integrate more art into our world.

RE:FRESH is Illegal Pete's year-(plus)-long art project that will address business improvements through artistic collaboration. Pete has partnered with local arts producer Annie Geimer (Understudy and Meow Wolf) to assemble a team of artists that will solve each restaurant's identified business upgrade.

To quote Pete,

"If we plan on making these ongoing improvements to help our business anyways, lets include creatives to make it more interesting and have some fun."

This focus on support and connection is born from Pete Turner Sr's family legacy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, supporting then-unknown artist Grant Wood and his family during his early career. Grant lived and painted in Turner Mortuary's carriage house: it was here where Wood painted American Gothic, bringing him immediate national and international acclaim. This legacy cemented in Pete Jr his fiercely-held values around supporting the arts through business, which is foundational to Illegal Pete's.

Believing art to be one of the key things to have both immediate and lasting impact in our communities, Illegal Pete's continues the tradition of nurturing and supporting creative endeavors. This attitude has led to partnerships with Youth on Record, Pop Culture Classroom, High Plains Comedy Festival and DUSK Music Festival in Tucson, Arizona. RE:FRESH celebrates 25-years of creative collaboration by bringing it home to each of its restaurants.

Follow along as we spotlight each project and artist throughout the RE:FRESH journey.

We hope you enjoy!

Learn More About RE:FRESH

marketing@illegalpetes.com