Mayor, students, service clubs band together to beautify downtown

Puyallup Mayor John Knutsen knew he needed come up with a creative way to draw attention when it came to beautifying one of the downtown parking lots.

When he first took office, the downtown was struggling, he said. There were empty store fronts and very few spots to park; Knutsen felt Puyallup needed more to keep the downtown thriving.

After the city purchased the old Cornforth Campbell lot at 3rd Street SE and East Main to provide more parking in order to attract more visitors, Knutsen thought bringing a few eye-catching pieces of art would draw more attention to downtown.

“The parking lot was really in poor shape,” he said. “It looked run down, so we started sprucing it up.”

The city had several inoperable fire hydrants taking up space in storage. As a creative way to repurpose them, Knutsen contacted several service clubs to encourage an interesting approach to spruce up downtown.

Service clubs and local high school students got involved with the project. Each of the service clubs was given a surplus fire hydrant, and Emerald Ridge, Puyallup and Cascade Christian high schools were given a mural to paint.

Puyallup High art teacher Joe Loring, a member of Valley Arts United, was approached by Knutsen last spring to get his students involved in the project.

“The students have really taken pride in the project,” Knutsen said.

One of the students involved, Savannah Jarrett, painted a large mural that will hang on the back walls of the parking lot.

“It’s a giant vintage motorcycle with the Puyallup Fair and Mount Rainier in the back,” she said.

Jarrett and classmate Jordan Binford came in the entire week after they graduated to finish the mural, Loring said.

“I got to hang out with Jordan, who’s my really good friend, and Mr. Loring,” Jarrett said. “Mr. Loring was really supportive. I liked doing the work, but it was more about the experience of working with friends.”

Jarrett says she’s looking forward to seeing her mural hanging in her hometown the next time she’s home from Washington State University.

The art at the downtown parking lot will provide a colorful backdrop to the empty lot that is used as staging for parades and car shows.

“Parking is critical for our downtown businesses, and this makes it look better and more attractive,” Knutsen said. “It’s just a project to help our downtown businesses.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Mayor, students, service clubs band together to beautify downtown."