Colorful community mural will serve as welcome to Tarentum

Tarentum artist Ernesto Camacho sketched a bright, cheerful mural that represents all the borough has to offer in hopes of producing a larger-than-life version this summer.

It depicts churches, antique shops and the former Manos Theater where he now operates a gallery. There are building blocks with words like family, love and community.

“Tarentum has so much potential,” Camacho said. “The nice thing about the mural is that it emphasizes what the town used to be, but also what it can be in years to come.”

Now, borough council is tasked with finding a property large enough and willing to host the mammoth art project.

“We need to find a building to put it on where it can be seen by all,” Councilman Kevin Bertocki said.

“You see more pieces of art appearing in local towns and municipalities throughout the area, so why not Tarentum?” Council President Scott Dadowski asked.

The idea was commissioned by borough-based Tripak Industries at the request of the Tarentum Recreation Committee.

The cost is expected to be about $3,000.

“Murals can make a difference in a person’s life,” said Carrie Fox, council member and recreation board president. “It makes their day a little brighter, a feel-good moment.”

The painting will be a focal point of town and something to welcome visitors, she said.

There are several potential homes for the colorful mural.

Obvious suggestions included the buildings facing the railroad tracks along Fifth Avenue. The old Rite-Aid building now owned by Abundant Joy Church is at the top of the list.

Other ideas include the former Grant building along Corbet Street, the Wesley Family Services building, also on Corbet Street, or Dreshar Stadium.

“My opinion would be somewhere prominent where traffic comes in and out of town,” Dadowski said.

“I think there are several places around town that would be high visibility, high foot-traffic areas that the residents and visitors would notice on a daily basis. This has the potential to become its very own tourist attraction.”

Public art, according to Forbes.com, not only helps beautify a space but can help boost the economy by attracting visitors or new businesses.

Murals can encourage people to slow down and take note of everything a town has to offer, according to productcare.org, a recycling industry.

Tarentum already is home to an large, impressive mural, albeit on a retaining wall behind JG’s Tarentum Station Grille, just below Sixth Avenue.

The 180-footlong painting, though a bit weathered, chronicles Tarentum’s rise from its first inhabitants, Native Americans, through several wars, up until about the 1990s.

Fox said plans for the new mural have been in the works for about three years. She said she recognizes the good that can come from the project.

“The rec board presented this idea years ago, but council at the time was not interested,” she said. “This project has always been on my radar.

“I think it goes a long way to make people proud of where they live.”

Weather permitting, Camacho will be busy painting this spring.

While brainstorming, he focused on designs that would unite the community.

The sketch features sunshine emerging from a pile of blocks and a small ladder.

“All the words that are on the blocks — love, community, family — those are things we want to bring to Tarentum,” Camacho said. “The ladder symbolizes what else can we grow into.”