The children and adults from Rochelle School of the Arts and Harrison School of the Arts ignored the furnace-like heat, concentrating on their brush strokes, creating a colorful, geometric mural.
Occasionally, they had to abandon their work to perform for a camera hovering overhead, attached to a city drone. The footage will be used by the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency to draw attention to the project that could spread to other parts of Lakeland.
“This was just a way to show some interest in that area,” said Valerie Vaught, a project manager for the Lakeland CRA. “(Painting) this intersection is a pilot project. We’ll sit back and see how it looks in a year. It’s a test. The plan is to see how well it’s received.”
Sunday’s project marks East Main Street and North Ingraham Avenue as an eye-catching entryway to the recently named Design District. The effort was sponsored by the city’s CRA, the two schools and Boring Business Solutions.
Much of the back story was lost on Shaun Morgan, 13, an eighth-grader at Rochelle who was enthusiastic about the opportunity to be involved in a project of such a grand scale.