MOSES LAKE — The last piece of a project to add art at and around the Grant County Fairgrounds has been completed. The last work in the “Pieced Together Mural Project” has been added to a water cistern across Airway Drive from the fairgrounds.

“All the murals are community-driven images, including the last and largest,” said Allied Arts Executive Director Shawn Cardwell in a press release. “We wanted to create a sense of identity and ownership for the entire county.”

The project was a partnership between Columbia Basin Allied Arts, fair managers and the Muses Lake Museum & Art Center. Erika Kovalenko is the artist.

Grant County residents were invited to help paint parts of the murals during successive Grant County Fairs, and give their reactions to the proposed designs. Cardwell said community involvement was part of the project from the beginning.

The Airway Drive mural features a cougar head as part of the design, and Cardwell said that’s an example of the part played by county residents.

“Without the community input there would not have been a big cougar on the cistern,” she wrote. “But a ton of kids painted them on the original mural. Now it’s awesome - it’s a strong image.”

The mural is part of a multiyear project that started in 2016. That year, Kovalenko painted one of the murals and enlisted fairgoers to paint the border. Fair attendees also helped Kovalenko paint a mural during the 2019 fair.

The Airway Drive mural also includes a rider on horseback, a pheasant and a crane in flight as well as local flowers and the names of sponsors for the project.

Originally the mural was supposed to be completed in the summer of 2021, but the project was postponed in the wake of concerns about the original design, according to a January 2021 story in the Columbia Basin Herald. The original design included historical features including Chief Moses and former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In the 2021 CBH story, Cardwell said there were concerns the design might not be sensitive to all communities in the county.

The “Pieced Together” project also includes mural panels that are displayed around the fairgrounds and painted during successive fairs.

The Icicle Fund provided a grant for the project, and a number of local businesses also donated to the project, including Pro Rentals & Sales, A&H Printers, K-2 Realty, Instastor Inc., Rob Jones, Big Bend Community College and the Grant County Tourism Council. The Cascade Valley Water District owns the water cistern.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].