Those quirky posters you see every year promoting the Empire Asparagus Festival were illustrated by Tim Lewis, who passed away on Jan. 5 at age 79. A native of Midland, Lewis summered as a child in Empire, worked as an artist at the famous Push Pin Studios in New York City, then inherited and settled in his mother’s house on Lambkin Lane, circa 2001 (his mother was born in Empire in 1905). Lewis’ unique persona and art were symbolic of Empire, itself.