Yates adds train mural to LaCrosse

LaCrosse artist Sara Yates is currently painting her third mural in LaCrosse. This one will be a train mural which will also include six historical postcards of structures in LaCrosse.

LaCrosse is getting another mural. Local artist Sara Yates is painting her third mural in less than a year.

The mural, a train scene, is being painted on the side of a building owned by Mayor Randy Camp, which is across the street from the post office on Main Street.

“There’s a lot more to go,” Yates said, pointing to the nearly-finished train and then to the sides of that where she plans to paint six historical postcards.

“There will be old-style postcards, and they’ll have different buildings,” she said. “I’ll try to throw some people in there, too.”

The historical buildings she plans on including are the old school building, old hotel and old train depot, among others.

“It will be really neat,” she said. “The pictures will be a lot more detailed than the train.”

The train cars, Yates said, represent the Union Pacific train cars which used to travel through LaCrosse. Yates said she has already received a correction on those in the painting.

“The train cars for Union Pacific were yellow, and originally I had them orange,” she said. “I have to stay historically accurate, or people will notice. I fixed it.”

The other two murals Yates has painted in LaCrosse are on the Sensory Homes building, a horse mural, and at the fire station, depicting a horse-drawn fire engine.

“It’s a completely different style on this mural than the other two,” she said.

The wall, she said, has not been easy to paint.

“This wall is like painting a gravel wall,” she said. “It’s very unforgiving.”

Yates said she is currently putting in about five to six hours on the mural on her days off, as well as two or three hours in the evenings. She is employed at the Dusty Country Store and as a custodian at the LaCrosse school.

Her goal is to finish by Farmer’s Fest in June.