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A colorful public-safety themed
mural that had been collecting dust
in Airlie
for years finally found a home.
Representatives from Polk Fire
District
No. 1, City of Monmouth and Monmouth
Police were among those in
attendance
Tuesday morning, Dec. 6, at the
official
unveiling of the mural at Big Town
Hero
sandwich shop.
Big Town owners Gary Breunle and
Robert
Wellman joined City Manager Scott
McClure,
and councilors Darin Silbernagel and
Chris
Larsen in tending to the physical
honors of
pulling the tarp off. An informal
acknowledgement ceremony gave way to
the quick plop of the heavy canvass
falling
from the roughly 400-pound combined
mural and framework.
Division Chief/Fire Marshal Jeff
Donahue
cited several elements of safety
within
the artwork, including a kid
strapped in
a car safety seat, a bicyclist
standing
and waiting for traffic to clear,
the
cyclist and a skateboarder wearing
helmets and other safety equipment.
Donahue noted that McMinnville
artist John Palacios created the
mural the better part of a decade
ago. Donahue’s best guess is that
the process of finding a home and
erecting the work hit a few snags,
sending it to storage, ultimately
being stored at No. 1’s rural Airlie
fire station. He believes it’s
probably been there since 2003.
Oregon Department of Transportation
originally financed the work and
wanted it to be placed in a visible
location. Big Town’s site at Hwy.
99W and Powell Street sees plenty of
traffic, and Breunle and Wellman
were amenable to the addition, which
is front and center on their
building. Thoughts of the once lost
mural resurfaced almost
accidentally.
The fire department is a member of
the Willamette Valley Safe Kids
Coalition, and a representative from
SW Rural Fire, Judy Lambert,
encountered an ODOT representative
at a meeting who asked about the
forgotten mural. Upon investigation,
Donahue discovered its location.
“Luckily it didn’t get thrown away,”
Donahue said. The mural was likely
first placed at the Monmouth
station, then moved to Airlie after
that station closed. It faced the
station wall and more and more
storage was placed in front of it
until it was essentially out of
sight, out of mind.
Once re-discovered a number of fire
department volunteers went to work
restoring and securing it while
finding the appropriate home,
including volunteers Shawn Quilty,
Wally Schmidt and Bob McMillian, a
department chaplain and pastor of
Cornerstone Christian Church.
“What’s interesting is that while
it’s in Monmouth, a number of the
volunteers who made this happen are
from Independence,” Donahue said,
citing Robert Lloyd Sheet Metal,
Dave Upton’s Town & Country Hardware
and R&J Mobility Service among
others.
McClure said Monmouth is a
mural-friendly city. Coincidentally,
that Tuesday’s council agenda was
scheduled to address the addition of
an historical mural at Volunteer
Hall. Other city murals are painted
in Gentle Woods Park, Main Street
Park and on the side of the shopping
mall across from the Monmouth Public
Library on S. Ecols St., while
Western Oregon University also
sports a number of dynamic artistic
displays throughout the year.
Police Chief Darrell Tallan also
gave a nod to the work during the
informal ceremonial unveiling,
saying that its visibility and
safety emphasis is a good message to
send to those who view it.
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