Montgomery mural is inspiration for button design winner

    Sophie Smith, 20, of Montgomery, won this year’s 2026 Kolacky Days button design contest, chosen by the 248 members of the Montgomery Area Community Club (MACC) that runs Kolacky Days out of the 10 submitted designs.
    Smith is an emergency medical responder (EMR) working towards being an emergency medical technician (EMT) for Montgomery Area Emergency Medical Services. She is a 2024 graduate of Tri-City United High School with plans to continue her education to do something in the health care fields.
    She’s a first time entrant and winner of the event, where she will receive $150 in Monty Bucks, a Kolacky Days t-shirt, and a limited edition oversized Kolacky Days button and a pair of regular buttons with her design.
    Entries were accepted back in October and November of 2025 with the voting by members on the winning design at MACC’s annual meeting in November 2025. Renewing members who stopped by Franke’s Bakery this past Saturday for the MACC Membership Drive were the first to see and obtain the new buttons, which amounted to at least 39 members signing up during that time.
    The main portion of her button design is the Montgomery street scape. Smith took a photo of the mural that is on the south wall of the Chicka Chicka Broom building. 
    “I really wanted to get a Main Street-type of feeling,” said Smith. “I took a picture of that mural, and then I put it into an AI generator and gave it a million different prompts to get it to where I liked. Then, I used Photoshop to get it how I liked.”
    The rustic, “old-timey” feel is something that she said she has always liked and what she wanted with this button.
    This button almost didn’t make it to the competition though. “I showed my grandma, and she said...

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