200 volunteers help paint the Salmon Mural in LFP

4th and 5th graders from Brookside painting blue water on the prepared surface

Community Paint Day a Huge Success!

By Kim Josund

Photos by LFPSF

Over 200 volunteers pitched in to help paint the 188-foot “Save Our Salmon” mural on the NE 178th St bridge over McAleer Creek in Lake Forest Park on Saturday, September 10, 2022. 

Kim Josund from LFP Stewardship, mural artist Austin Picinich, and Alex Nason of UrbanArtWorks lean against the prepared wall at the start of the day

From cleaning brushes, pouring paint, to putting color on the walls – every contribution mattered as we transformed the boring gray concrete barriers to this beautiful mural featuring native Kokanee salmon.

Mural designer 17 year old artist Austin Picinich painting Save Our Salmon

The Lake Forest Park Stewardship Foundation (LFPSF) spearheaded this project to bring young artist Austin Picinich to design the mural, which is his second Save Our Salmon mural. 

Alan Kerley General Manager of LFP Water District, Kim Josund President of the Stewardship Foundation, and LFP Mayor Jeff Johnson. A volunteer sells Salmon Mural tee shirts

In addition to the LFP Stewardship Foundation, financial support came from the City of Lake Forest Park, ShoreLake Arts, the LFP Water District, Rotary Club of LFP, and Trout Unlimited.

Shorecrest High School students were part of the crew

Volunteer help from Shorecrest High School students, Ms. Benson’s 4th-5th graders from nearby Brookside Elementary School, and a hundred community members, brought this mural to life. 

Adding the details

Thanks also to UrbanArtWorks for organizing the volunteers, Westlake Ace Hardware at the LFP Town Center for donating and discounting paint for the mural, the LFP Water District for providing cold drinking water, and Top Pot Donuts for perking up the volunteers with donuts on Saturday morning.

Volunteers clearly enjoyed their work

This stunning piece of public art highlights the salmon-bearing McAleer Creek below the road and raises awareness about the stewardship of our waterways needed to bring the salmon back.

There were tasks for everyone who wanted to help.

Kokanee, also called “the Little Red Fish,” are a type of salmon that do not swim to sea, but instead live in Lake Washington before returning to the streams to breed.

The wildfire smoke stayed in the trees

Reportedly, our local streams were once so thick with spawning Kokanee that the streams appeared red with fish. The Stewardship Foundation and others are working to bring back these iconic fish.

Fine detail work took extra time. Staci Adman lettered the end wall with contributing organizations

For more information on the Salmon Mural project see: https://www.austinsart.net/salmonmural/

Done!

We are still raising funds to help us cover the costs of the mural project (additional funding supports salmon research) at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-paint-a-save-our-salmon-mural