D.C., DC — A D.C. family has made the iconic rainbow medals for the Kennedy Center Honors for the past 47 years. That was until this year, when they received a letter that the Kennedy Center will be going a different way this year.

James Baturin has been making the medals since 1978. He said when President Trump took control of the Kennedy Center board, he knew changes were coming.

"It was hard to believe. Hard to believe after 47 years of doing these that they were actually going to change them. Because they're iconic,” he said.

The Kennedy Center first approached Baturin to make the medals when he was at the Baumgarten Company in Northwest DC. He secured the contract to make the medals for the first-ever Kennedy Center Honors and has made them every year since.

Making the laurels,

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