HOLYROOD — At the base of the water tower, several families gathered Saturday morning to assist with the town’s first mural.

Twelve-year-old Emery Siemsen chose to use yellow because it’s a bright color.

“It’s pretty cool that the town is coming together and doing a painting,” she said.

Throughout the morning, 20 children visited the site to leave a fingerprint on the brick wall.

The mural is one of four paid for by a grant from the Office of Rural of Prosperity and the Kansas Department of Commerce.

“When we decided we were going to apply for the grant, we put out the opportunity for the community artists, business locations and sponsors to submit their applications,” said Stacie Schmidt, the executive director of Ellsworth County Economic Development (ECED). “That’s how the locations and artists were selected. It was first come, first served.”

The timeline was tight. She announced the opportunity, and had three days to gather locations, artists and funding. The grant contributed $10,000; local donors also chipped in an additional $10,000 for the project.

Allison Koch, who is on the Holyrood City Council said she knew immediately she wanted her city to participate.

“We talked about it at city council and everybody was on board with it,” she said.

When the city’s original artist fell through, Schmidt recommended Gail Williams, who lives near Kanopolis Lake, but previously worked at Holyrood’s post office.

“Our goals are for it to have high visibility for people coming into town,” Koch said.

In Holyrood, the mural is visible when entering town from the west. Williams worked with the city to determine the design.

“In the beginning, we were looking at painting the whole entire wall, but the window was causing a problem,” Williams said. “After the third draft, we tried something different. It was hard to incorporate a full-scale sunflower field with the window in there, so I drew just the (sunflowers) with the brick showing through.”

The decision to use the red brick as canvas rather than a white wall was slightly unusual, but Williams tested the idea, and was pleased with the results.

This is her first largescale mural. Previously, Williams painted a window for Ellsworth-based Post Rock Rural Water District.

She collaborated with the city to come up with the final design, which features bright sunflowers.

“We added the cardinal (because) the school used to be the cardinals years ago,” Williams said. “We added a few things here and there. We added Holyrood up top. She wanted a butterfly and we’ll throw in some critters, fox, ladybugs, things like that.”

Koch said the community is excited to watch the mural come to life.

“We want it to be eyecatching and also to have an interactive component,” Koch said.

Saturday provided an opportunity for the interaction. Williams spent an hour helping community children select a paint color, then use their fingers to leave a trio of fingerprints on the wall. These fingerprints will become wildflowers at the base of the mural.

“I like the sharing part of it more than anything,” Williams said. “It was important to me to get the community involved. I want to be able to get other kids involved. I think families appreciate that.”

ECED selected four sites in Ellsworth County: Millwood Realty in Ellsworth, Munchkinz Bakery in Ellsworth, Paden’s Place in Ellsworth and the City of Holyrood.

Schmidt said Wilson applied for its own grants through the program.

The first mural to be complete was at Millwood Realty and was painted by David Alexander.

Holyrood’s is the second, and Williams said she hopes to complete it by the end of the month.

Artist Avery Maxwell was selected as the artist for Munchkinz Bakery and artist Josh Womelsdorf was selected to paint Paden’s Place.

“The murals are a way to beautify our community, attract tourists and market our community in a different way,” Schmidt said.

Koch said the Holyrood location was chosen because the city owns the building.

“We have a lot of out-oftowners who come to the (nearby) park and splash pad,” she said. “We hope this is the first of many murals.

“The moment we posted about it, people have been talking. The youngest to the oldest are watching it take shape.”

Schmidt said she is encouraged by the support, especially because the grant application came together in only three days.

“What that indicated to me is that this community has a desire for more art and culture,” she said. “This is a springboard for more to come.”