LaCrosse artist wielding brush, paint across county

Sara Yates works on her latest mural on the fire station in LaCrosse. When it’s finished, the painting will depict a horse drawn fire wagon with clouds of smoke billowing behind it. The artist has been booked for several more jobs throughout Whitman County.

Sara Yates is at it again.

The LaCrosse artist who last month painted a horse mural depicting teamsters driving a team of 12 horses through the wheat fields of the Palouse has booked several more potential mural paintings across the county.

“I will have no free time whatsoever, which is great,” Yates said.

Yates, who is also employed at the Dusty Country Store, will work on the murals before and after work when the temperatures are cooler.

She said the first mural gave her the exposure she needed to be established as a mural artist in the county.

“That was my whole purpose in doing this mural, to get exposure,” she said. “Painting is what I want to do. It’s what I love to do. You can’t be happier than that.”

The new mural jobs Yates has booked include three more in LaCrosse, one in Colfax and three in Pullman, plus more in Pullman that are still in the early stages of discussion.

In LaCrosse, she has been hired to liven up the side of the fire station. She plans to paint another horse mural. This time the horses will pull a fire wagon.

The other two murals are still in the early planning stages and will need to be approved by the town council, but will probably be on the side of the town store and on another building owned by Mayor Randy Camp near the park.

Yates said the mural on the store will be a 3-D view of the store, depicting it when it first opened in 1915. The 3-D view will show how the inside of the store looked then. The mural down by the park, she said, will potentially be a 1920s outdoor scene of the streets of LaCrosse.

“We haven’t nailed anything down for sure,” she said.

With all the work LaCrosse Community Pride (LCP) has been doing to make LaCrosse more of a tourist destination and bring more people to town, Yates said she hopes she can help in that with the work she is doing. A big part of that, she said, is preserving the history, as LCP has been hard at work doing.

“That’s the goal with these murals, to preserve the history of LaCrosse,” she said.

The mural on the fire station has been approved by the town council, and the other two are still in the preliminary stages and need to be approved before plans go forward. Yates began work on the fire station mural last Thursday, July 16.

Bob Hauser of Colfax has also booked Yates for a potential job in Colfax. That job, like the ones in LaCrosse, is still in the preliminary stages and needs approval, as well as a budget.

Hauser has spoken with the City Administrator Mike Rizzitiello and Mayor Todd Vanek to begin seeking approval from the city council for Yates to paint a bulldog on “Big Blue,” the water tower on the east side of town.

Hauser said he spoke with Yates first about the project to make sure she was available and to learn her price before he took it to city officials.

The water tower would need a fresh coat of paint before a mural could be painted. That is not scheduled at this time, nor is it in the current budget, Rizzitiello said.

“We’re more than willing to have it done, but it’s not something we have budgeted for, so that’s the constraint now,” said Matt Hammer, Colfax Public Works director.

Hammer said Hauser plans to pay for the mural, but it would be the city’s job to pay to have the tower painted. Hammer and Hauser both mentioned fundraisers or donations as a possibility to make it happen.

“It’s just another thing to say we’re proud of our town; here we are,” Hauser said. “Colfax has a super reputation in conference sports, so why not?”

In Pullman, the projects would also have to go before the city council for approval, as well as parks and recreation. Yates said the location of the first mural is on Grand Avenue across the street from the old liquor store, and the second and third locations are still in discussion with the Grand Avenue Greenway Committee, who has extended the offers to Yates. The first mural will have an arbor theme, and the other two are still in discussions, but will likely be an artesian well and railroad theme, Yates said. The arbor themed mural will also have a tree sculpture incorporated into it.

“I can paint anything,” she said. “I love horses and I really like the history murals, but I can do anything.”

Yates said she is appreciative of all the community support she has received for her paintings, and she is looking forward to what is to come.

She knows she will be busy for the next several months as she works to complete these murals, and she said she “can paint until winter time as long as the weather holds.” Once winter hits, she will look at doing more indoor paintings.

“If I wasn’t out painting a wall, I’d be at home painting,” she said.

With the seven potential jobs booked or in the early stages, there are still more coming. Yates is in discussion with Alex McGregor about another potential mural, though no specifics have been discussed with that project. She said she has also received a call from a private party in Pullman and also received another call from a group in Pullman seeking her to touch up some of the current murals in the city.

“It is a good thing. I’m excited,” she said. “It’s just been overwhelming. I did not expect this much so fast. I thought maybe one or two after the first mural, but it’s just been a snowball.”

Yates is happy to have work doing what she loves, and she still has one big goal: to paint the Dusty grain elevator.

“I have wanted to paint that thing ever since I drove into town,” she said. “I’m still working my way up to the Dusty elevator. They can call me anytime. I’ll give them a good deal.”