LaCrosse artist Sara Yates paints history mural

Sara Yates works on her horse mural Tuesday morning. She has been working since May 20 on the mural she hopes to have completed in time for LaCrosse’s Farmer’s Festival June 20.

The annual LaCrosse Farmer’s Festival will have a new touch this year.

LaCrosse resident Sara Yates is painting a mural she hopes to have done in time for the annual celebration.

The mural, being painted on a building owned by John Ellis, sits adjacent to the building that houses Umpqua Bank and across the street from the town’s store on the corner of Main and 2nd Street.

Yates is passionate about horses, having worked in the horse industry for 30 years, and wanted to bring a touch of history to the town with her mural.

“It’s a neat part of Whitman County history that we should not forget about,” she said. “You had to have horses to survive. Now it’s all four-wheelers.”

Her mural depicts a teamster driving a team of 12 horses through the wheat fields so common across the Palouse.

“Back then, Whitman County had the best teamsters in the world,” Yates said.

Yates had been in conversation with Ellis for a year about her desire to do a mural. The Spokane native, who moved to LaCrosse four years ago, has painted two murals in Spokane and was itching to do another. She’s also hoping for the opportunity to paint a mural on the Dusty grain elevator.

She said Ellis called her up May 19 and told her she could paint the mural on the side of his building. She began work the next day.

“I’ve put in a whole lot of hours,” she said. “I’m trying to have this done by Farmer’s Fest. It’s good for the area with it being real area-specific.”

Yates said she has probably put in about 50 hours so far, and the mural is still another 50 from being completed. She works on it in her spare time between her two jobs at the Dusty Country Store and as the grade school janitor at the LaCrosse school. That spare time is usually found late at night and into the wee hours of the morning.

“I’m a night painter,” she said. “It’s pretty cool.”

Ellis supplies her with the paints, as well as other supplies needed and spotlights so she can complete her work in the dark. She is painting this mural free of charge.

“I want to paint full-time,” Yates said. “I’m hoping to get exposure from this. I’m pretty sure I could make a living out of painting.”

Yates already works on paintings and other art pieces on the side and sells them. She has sold 16 pieces in the last two years. Her work can be found on her Facebook page, Yates Hay Burners Gallery, which one of her three daughters helped her set up.

Now that her son has graduated from LaCrosse High School she said she is ready to pursue being an artist full-time.

She also said she appreciates the support from the community as she begun the work on the mural and continues the work to complete it.

“Everybody’s been so wonderful. They’ve been really, really supportive,” Yates said. “A big thank you goes to the community for being so supportive.”