VINTON — Folks driving east on Fourth Street in downtown Vinton now have a new mural to admire, intended to help them remember the dedication and commitment of emergency workers in the Benton County area.
The Vinton Guild of Fine Arts (VGFA) mural, sponsored by Chuck Juhl, was hung on the west side of the Benton County Title Building on Tuesday, July 1, at 10:30 a.m. Several citizens and VGFA members were present for the installation, which was handled by Tharp Design.
As VGFA member Anita Gordon explained in a press release earlier this week, “this mural was inspired by the incredible response received on the night of the Fourth Street fire downtown in 2018. Chuck Juhl, from the Benton County Title Company, wanted to say thank you for all of the efforts, and asked the Guild to create a public mural for this purpose. He and other donors have now made this possible.”
On Tuesday’s installation, Gordon echoed this same gratitude. “I am so happy to see this project come to fruition. We are very grateful to Chuck Juhl and the other individuals who donated to the project as well as to the Vinton Community Foundation for their support,” Gordon said. “We are especially grateful to all of the first responders in our local communities who work so hard to serve and protect. I really hope they find this mural a worthy tribute to their efforts.”
Chuck Juhl, who worked in the title building for 45 years, said he sponsored the mural to honor “the people we rely on most” in emergency situations. “We thought this would be a nice tribute to the first responders,” Juhl said. “Another building may get built here someday, and it’ll have to be moved, but for now, hopefully, the community can enjoy it here.”
Local artist and VGFA member Kim Frazier was commissioned by the guild to design and paint the mural, which was inspired by a Gazette photo taken the night of the fire on Feb. 8, 2018 that destroyed several downtown buildings, including Michael & Dowd Furniture, Clingman Pharmacy, and the Fischer Law Firm, and damaged the Benton County Title building. Frazier said she spent over 60 hours on the project, overall.
“Chuck wanted to represent this event specifically, and so he went looking through pictures and found one that the Cedar Rapids Gazette had. After getting approval from the photographer who took the picture, I started working with it and made it into what you see now. Since Chuck wanted all emergency workers to be represented, I added the Vinton Police and EMS on the side,” Frazier said.
VGFA member Kim Fischels said this current mural project is right in line with the mission of the guild. “VGFA is very civic minded, and we try to help beautify our town. The murals project is a great way for us to do that,” Fischels said.
Fischels also said VGFA is always accepting new members for this group of artists that meets just a couple of hours each month. “We want to encourage people to be involved in our community projects, but we also don’t want to discourage artists who just want to join for the art,” she said.
Any businesses or individuals interested in having a mural created by VGFA should contact Anita Gordon at 319-560-4912.