photo by: Contributed

The final rendering of the mural that will be painted near the Lawrence Community Nursery School, 645 Alabama St. The mural will be painted this weekend, with the school planning other events surrounding the painting.

The Lawrence Community Nursery School will be painting the town red — and blue and green and yellow — this weekend as it creates a street-level mural in the heart of Old West Lawrence.

The school at 645 Alabama St. will host a “Street Painting Party” from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday to paint the mural designed by local artist Dave Loewenstein on the intersection of Seventh and Alabama streets.

The mural was first approved by the Lawrence Cultural Arts Commission in May, as the Journal-World reported. As part of the design process, Loewenstein invited students at the school to go to the intersection and draw designs inspired by what they heard, felt and saw during that time.

The mural’s design looks a bit like a compass. In the center is an ornate box turtle, the state reptile of Kansas, and it will be surrounded by a circle that will feature images based on youth and neighbors’ drawings during design workshops.

Shannon Carlson, the secretary for the Lawrence Community Nursery School, said school staff will be laying down outlines early Saturday morning before the community is invited to the event, making it a little bit like “paint by numbers.”

“We’ll have everything laid out so everybody knows what section they’re painting, what color they are painting,” Carlson said.

Carlson said the current plan is to have about 10 people painting the mural at a time, but they’ll have a rotation where people can add their name to a list if there are a lot of people eager to sign up.

“We want to make sure everyone gets a chance to paint the mural,” Carlson said.

Because the mural is on the street, it needs to be able to withstand traffic passing over it — not just cars, but things like snowplows as well. As part of the preparation for the mural, Loewenstein and the school will do pre-treatment on the area — including sweeping and power washing the intersection — to help the design last longer. Carlson also said they will be painting with a specific type of paint that holds up longer, but every few years the school will likely need to do some touch-ups, she said.

The mural painting won’t be the only thing to do at the party. The school’s playground will be open, and a food truck will be stopping by the event both days. Carlson said there will also be a performance by the band Zydeco Tougeau from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday.

The event is not just for the school community or the neighborhood, Carlson said, but the students are excited to see the project they helped design become a reality.

“They are so excited they got to be a part of it,” Carlson said. “(When they) walk by it every day, it will be so fun to see their excitement.”

photo by: Bremen Keasey

Lawrence Community Nursery School, 645 Alabama St., shown in May 2025.