On a beautiful weekend of February 19th and 20th, volunteers of all ages gathered at the retired BRFD fire station 2 on 2182 Osage Street. This event, part of Mayor-President Sharon Weston-Broome's MLK BR Holiday, was focused on beautifying the station after years of being overlooked.
Teaming up with Mid City Redevelopment Alliance, the work was split into two days. The first day focused on blight remediation with debris removal, landscaping, and overall cleanup of the area. With help from DPW and volunteers, overgrown vegetation was cut and hauled, and the large garage doors were primed. Additionally, plywood was installed onto the windows to later become canvases for the following day.
Sunday morning saw groups of individuals come in and fill in the "paint-by-numbers" like outlines, set up by the two site artists, Morgan Tanner and Kelly Jackson.
Program Coordinator, Morgan Udoh describes the day, "I was really pleased seeing everything flow so well together. Painting with volunteers can be tricky, but our team did a really good job of keeping everyone on the same page."
After the event wrapped up, artists stayed to finish the more advanced-skilled lettering. Empowering wording flowed over the walls, creating a vibrant juxtaposition of background colors and white lettering.
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