A ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday, June 19th for a new public mural on North Second Street in downtown Fairfield, located on the west wall of Thai Deli. The mural was painted by members of the Fairfield High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance and commissioned by a team from the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Fairfield program.
The idea was born last fall when four Leadership Fairfield class members — Mary Ellis of MidWestOne Bank, Som Sylavong of Iowa State Bank, Courtney Ubben of Schaus-Vorhies Contracting, and Hailey Shultz of the Jefferson County Farm Bureau Federation — met for margaritas at a local restaurant to brainstorm a community service project. The Chamber described their effort as “a powerful reminder that leadership often starts with an idea — and a willingness to act on it.” The group noticed the blank wall on the side of Thai Deli and the rest, as Ellis put it, was history. “We thought, what are the things that make those communities stand out? And it was the art,” she said when speaking to media. “And so, as we were drinking our margaritas — because, you know, all great ideas come from margaritas — I looked across the street, and this was empty, and I said, that’s where we needed to do a mural, and that’s how it came out.”
The group reached out to Fairfield High School, where art teacher David Kraemer connected them with the GSA club. Five or six students, along with several adult volunteers, began work on May 10th and laid the final brushstrokes on June 15th. The building’s owner, Sitti Charoenkul, was fully supportive of the project.
What the Mural Depicts
The mural spans two large panels. The northern panel features the Jefferson County Courthouse clock tower, the Ron Prill Bandstand, and Fairfield’s skyline as depicted in the Heritage Courtyard. The southern panel showcases Pleasant Lake alongside the Spring Blue-Eyed Mary flower. A red car connects the two panels — a nod to the town’s Collector Cars Unlimited Car Show, suggested by recent graduate Stormy Lint.
Charlie McKerley, an incoming senior who designed the mural, said the landmarks were chosen deliberately. “I wanted to put a lot of the landmarks in Fairfield — the gazebo and the clock tower, which I think are some of the most striking architectural elements,” McKerley said when speaking to media. Incoming senior Rorey Krause advocated for the Spring Blue-Eyed Mary, noting it is state listed as critically endangered with its population almost exclusively found around Fairfield. “It’s the most indicative plant of our area,” Krause said when speaking to media.
Other students who contributed include Tessa Holdeman, Arissa Porhen, Amelia Gates, and Rudy. The project was supervised by Meshari Alnouri and Sarah Poole.
Funding and Community Support
The project was funded in part through a Paint Iowa Beautiful Grant, which covered 15 gallons of Diamond Vogel paint from Schaus-Vorhies. Additional support came from MidWestOne Bank, Schaus-Vorhies Contracting, and the Jefferson County Farm Bureau Federation. Leadership Fairfield sponsors Agri-Industrial Plastics, Weaton Companies, and Iowa State Bank also helped make the project possible.
Ellis said the collaboration between the Leadership Fairfield team and the high school students was the heart of the project. “I just want to thank everyone — the whole community got involved and our youth really stepped up,” she said when speaking to media. “Our community is just so supportive and we just can’t thank everybody enough.”
The Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce said it will continue accepting donations to help maintain the mural for years to come. As the Chamber put it, “This mural is more than paint on a wall. It’s leadership in action, collaboration in practice, and community pride on full display.” Applications for the next Leadership Fairfield class are now open at fairfieldiowa.com.
