Deborah Prescott | Daily Press Artist Jim Finlan describes the fall scene painted on the pump house at Escanaba’s Stephenson Park. Each outer wall depicts a season in the Upper Peninsula, with a large full scene in the background, a shadowed activity, and another scene inside the shadow.

ESCANABA — The No. 3 Well at Stephenson Park in Escanaba received special attention Thursday from children in the area. The William Bonifas Fine Arts Center provided an opportunity for children to paint the foundation of the 77-year-old building with their bare hands, or feet, using water-based paint. Led by Bonifas Arts Center Artist Jim Finlan, Events Coordinator Paula Jordan, and Executive Director Sue Roll, children painted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. choosing the colors and placement. The outside water-based paint easily washed off little hands and feet using the water, soap and paper towels provided by the Bonifas.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Bonifas was unable to allow more children to participate.

“We let the kids who painted murals with us before and the homeschoolers know by phone,” said Bonifas Education Coordinator Irina Bruno. “We let the kids who come to our Art Fundamentals class know by handing out cards. We had it on our website, there was a poster in the park … We didn’t go for a large scale promotion because we wanted to control the number of kids that painted because of social distancing, COVID-19 reasons.”

The Bonifas was awarded a Prosperous Places Mini Grant in 2019 and decided to paint another mural in the city of Escanaba after previously painting two in the area.

“We had an opportunity to make our community more beautiful and interesting through the CUPPAD (Central Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Regional Commission) mini-grant called Prosperous Places,” said Bruno. “We had successfully painted a mural on Ludington Street and also on the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) building … we worked with the city of Escanaba on locating a property that can be painted. They suggested the pump house. We thought it was a good idea as North Town doesn’t have any public art.”

Finlan procured the painting materials, and created the design after hearing the city wanted the four seasons painted on the pump house.

“The theme of the mural is Four Seasons in the Upper Peninsula,” said Finlan. “Each outer wall shows a scene that could be found in the U.P., with images within other images, showing joy and happiness in each season.”

CUPPAD awarded the Prosperous Places mini-grant through a program put in place by Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder to improve downtowns, parks, neighborhoods, or public gathering spaces, impacting a community’s sense of place. The program, no longer running, aimed to build a thriving future for the Central U.P. communities by creating places where people want to live, work and play.