Kenzie Wolk is painting a mural at Schneider Park in downtown Festus that she hopes will offer a warm welcome to visitors to the area.
She began working on the mural on Oct. 11 in the tiny park at Main and Mill streets.
The Festus City Council voted 6-0 the night before to pay Wolk $9,000 to $10,000 to paint the mural. Brian Wehner of Ward 2 and Mike Cook of Ward 4 were absent from the meeting.
She said her final fee would depend on several factors, like “time, supplies, detail work.”
Josh Whaley, director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, recommended the project.
“Originally, we were going to give a little revamp to Schneider Park,” Whaley said. “Then, we saw Kenzie’s work and thought it would be a nice addition to downtown.”
The day she started painting the mural on a wall surrounding the park – the site of an old burned-down building – Wolk said she believed it would take her two to three weeks to complete it, weather permitting.
“It will say, ‘Festus, Missouri,’ and it will have floral designs and geometric shapes,” said Wolk, 38, of Ste. Genevieve.
Whaley initially wanted the mural design to be kept secret until it was finished and didn’t even tell council members what the mural would look like when they approved the expenditure. However, he acknowledged it would not be hidden for long, adding that people would be able to figure it out by Oct. 13.
On Tuesday, Wolk was putting the finishing touches on an elaborate flower she had painted on a section of the wall.
Schneider Park is the site of the Santa House, a small house brought into the park each winter when Santa comes to visit and hear children’s Christmas wishes.
Downtown Festus has another mural, one funded by a Festus Tourism Commission grant and painted by St. Louis artist Phil Jarvis in 2019. It was painted on the side of the building housing Pine Mountain Country Mercantile and Coffee House, 37 E. Main St., and says, “Welcome to beautiful, historic Festus Main Street.”