Events include mural restoration and pet owner preparedness workshops
By Sydney Seymour, Ashland.news
UPDATE: Tuesday, Sept. 9
The mural restoration workshop has been postponed due to weather. No official date has been set, but Maker City intends to reschedule the workshop on Monday, Sept. 15.
Original story:
As the community marks five years since the devastating Almeda Fire, Talent Maker City (TMC) will host a series of activities throughout the week, including a three-day mural restoration workshop to help preserve dozens of murals created by over 300 Talent and Phoenix youth and neighbors after the fire.
The murals — located off the Pacific Highway in Talent — have become a symbol of “resilience and recovery,” the TMC website says, especially for the families of 696 students in the Phoenix-Talent School District that were displaced after the Almeda Fire.
TMC invites the community to help clean and seal the Gateway Murals from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 8; Tuesday, Sept. 9; and Thursday, Sept. 11. Protective coating and other materials will be provided. No experience is needed.
The summer after the Almeda Fire, the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Talent (TURA) partnered with TMC and their art program to accept mural design submissions from local youth artists.
The murals were installed in the fall of 2021 on the perimeter fences of the Gateway housing site. This trailer park, a collaboration between TURA and the Phoenix-Talent School District, provides transitional housing for families displaced by the fire, prioritizing those with students.
Those interested to help restore the murals can meet at 9 a.m. at 109 Talent Ave (TMC) or join the group at the mural location — the fences on Pacific Highway 99 and West Valley View Road across from the Ohana Coffee Company.
Free events for pet owners to prepare for emergency
For interested pet owners, from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10, TMC will also host a workshop to personalize an evacuation “go-bag” for small pets for the next emergency to honor the animals affected by the Almeda Fire.
From 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, there will be a workshop to create a laser cut pet-safety sign where attendees can use TMC’s laser cutter to customize a durable, weatherproof door sign that lets first responders know pets are inside.
Email Ashland.news Snowden reporting intern Sydney Seymour at sydneyseymourr@gmail.com.
