Painting project in downtown St. Charles brings community together

Tessa Muenz of St. Charles found herself painting an intersection in downtown St. Charles during the annual Paint the Riverside event over the weekend.

“I’ve done this all the years its been offered and I love it. It’s absolutely one of the most fun things I do all year,” Muenz said on Saturday as she moved a roller dipped in paint backwards and forwards helping to paint a public mural right on the pavement at Walnut and Riverside avenues. “It’s a little bit difficult sitting like this but it’s still fun. I’ve actually done this for a couple hours before.”

The St. Charles Arts Council offered the three-hour session, which the group’s executive director Kathy Hill said “was a community-building event.”

“This is our fourth year and we usually see a couple hundred people come out,” Hill said before the event. “We’ve also been very lucky and we’ve never had anything but good weather on the days we’ve done this.”

Saturday was no exception, as bright sunshine and temperatures in the low 70s greeted visitors.

Last year, a fox was painted on the street, with Hill saying more “mosaic or geometric” images were completed during years one and two of the event.

“Last year was the first time we did an actual image of something recognizable,” she said. “This year, we’re doing a colored spiral. It’s an organized chaos.”

Paint and supplies for the event are purchased by the Arts Council, Hill said, adding that the group buys recycled paint from a company known as EarthPaint.

“The paint is a little bit thicker and it works very well for the street,” she said.

Once again, an image was already taped out on the street and color coded which made painting the image simple for everyone.

“It’s kind of a color-by-number,” Hill said. “As far as the timing of this, we always try to do it before the Fine Arts Show, which will be May 24 and 25 this year.

“As far as painting the street, we wanted to have something that would involve the community, that everybody could participate in versus murals on a wall,” Hill said.

New St. Charles Mayor Clint Hull was one of the first to grab a roller at the event.

“We have such a great Arts Council and a great arts community and being able to do something in such a prominent area” is great, Hull said.

“Rather than graffiti, it’s nice to have people paint in such a positive way,” Hull said. “You look at the kids smile and all the adults smile. I love the fact there is fantastic art all around the downtown.”

A number of parents and their children were on hand including St. Charles resident Parker Dunning who came with his two children and said Saturday was actually his third time doing the Arts Council painting project.

“We are frequent fliers. We circle the calendar every year and say let’s go paint,” Parker said. “We see this as something nice to do in the springtime – get outside and something to do for the town. I have an office nearby and I get to see it every day too. When I drive by it’s nice to relive this and you remember being here and seeing it.”

Parker’s son Clarke, 10, was working hard with his roller and said he really likes painting.

“Look how much I’ve done,” Parker said proudly as he dipped the roller in a tray to get more paint. “I like to paint. I like painting the street and decorating the town. It’s hard work but there’s no trick. I just load it up and let it go.”

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.