Second Street Mural: Success!
Greg Wimmer, master of murals, chalked out the 30’ X 60’ design and directed the painters in paint-by-number fashion starting at 9am. By noon, the goose was in full color and the adults were touching up edges as the SOS kids entertained the younger painters. The painters enjoyed some Great Harvest bread, cut by Vicki Snyder (RSVP, Senior Volunteer Corps) as they paused to look at their handy work.
Crystal and young adults from DFO Community Corrections were a dedicated bunch. They were at the paint site bright and early when the goose was just a chalk-outline and they stayed until the paint had dried and the first bicycles from neighborhoods kids rode over the design. The City Forester, Jacob Ryg, and some Park and Recreation staff helped paint the ribbon below the goose and Northrop Neighbors were phenomenal help whenever the various shades of black paint were needed for the goose’s feathers.
Olmsted County commissioner and RNeighbors board member Mike Podulke, RNeighbors Vice President Jeff Ellerbusch, Board President Bob Suk and Secretary Judy Stern were careful observers and helpers during the painting. RNeighbors board member and avid photographer Bob Sixta snapped some superb photographs during the entire day: all of the roof-top shots were taken by him. The rowdy bunch put on orange t-shirts for group photos once the project was declared ‘complete’ by Greg, the Muralist.
KTTC, KAAL, and the Post Bulletin all came out to see the goose and shared images and stories from the painting.
The RColorful Corners committee members were out in full force for this first-painting of the summer: Jill Walters (Steps to a Healthier Rochester), Gary Shannon (City Traffic Enginneer), Jeff Ellerbush, Melissa Morva (Project Hope & PACE), Keturah Hall (PACE), and Janet Szanjner (SOS Coordinator).
The mural would not have been possible without the amazing help of our gracious community partners and sponsors for the RColorful Corners summer series in 2008. RColorful Corners strives to provide a splash of color to the city, one neighborhood at a time. Community Education approached RNeighbors to coordinate with the surrounding neighborhood to do a street mural. RNeighbors, PACE, and SOS teams knocked on doors in the neighborhood prior to the painting to invite neighbors to beautify their neighborhood-and slow down traffic. Signatures were also collected from residents as said how excited they were to have their neighborhood chosen for a painting.
The paint for this mural was donated by Valspar through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Initiative Foundation that RNeighbors received for the entire summer. This is the second year that RNeighbors has received this grant. The RColorful Corners pilot project, that RNeighbors organized last summer was located near Hawthorne Literacy Center. This summer part of the grant’s paint will be used to touch up that painting and will initialize another street mural in the Historic Southwest Neighborhood.
