In 2017, Sally Cody, a long-time employee for the Village of Forest Park, proposed the event Cover Our Rust.
The idea, according to Karen Rozmus, president of the Arts Alliance Forest Park, was to “beautify the rusty bridge that was an eye sore in the center of the community,” she said of the Circle Avenue Bridge, which stretches over Interstate 290.
That May, around 300 people showed up to paint over 100 panels of the bridge. Girl and boy scout troops, the Forest Park Public Library, the Kiwanis Club of Forest Park, Park District of Forest Park, District 91 schools, plus local businesses and families showed up to paint images of life in Forest Park, flowers and artwork of civic movements. Rozmus said one person even hosted their birthday party on the bridge, inviting friends to join in contributing to a mural.
“My family and I painted a panel in 2017, and it was one of the best events we’ve ever experienced in Forest Park,” Maria Maxham, the village’s commissioner of accounts and finance, and an Arts Alliance board member, said in a statement.
“The event was such a success that the organizers went on to become ‘founding members’ of the Arts Alliance,” Rozmus said. In October of that year, the Arts Alliance officially became a nonprofit organization.
Because the paint from 2017 has started to fade, and the rust that the murals were originally meant to cover is seeping through, Forest Park Public Works will power wash and prime the bridge’s panels to create a clean palette for participants to once again paint the bridge.
Now, seven years later, the Arts Alliance is hosting the event that sparked its existence. On May 18, another group of locals will congregate on the bridge to paint its 100-plus panels. Those wishing to participate should submit sketches or brief descriptions of their family-friendly designs, plus a $40 registration fee to cover the cost of paint and brushes, by March 29.
Rozmus said that the Arts Alliance doesn’t anticipate turning any applicants away but wants to ensure that the proposed content is appropriate and avoids bold advertisements, aside from the event’s sponsors: the village and park district, plus the Ferrara Candy Company, Chris Everett Wealth Solutions, the Forest Park Historical Society and Forest Park Bank.
On May 18, the public works department will shut down Circle Bridge. Smokey Joel’s, which was open from 2015 to 2017 across from the park district, will sell hot dogs during the event. The Arts Alliance will also reach out to local restaurants to ask for their participation and is looking for volunteers to help with check-in.
Sign up for Brushes on the Bridge at https://forestparkarts.org/brushes-on-the-bridge