Exciting things are happening in Whiting! After months of planning and brainstorming fun ways to liven up the downtown area, the city just completed a beautiful renovation on 119th Street. What was once an empty, unused lot has now become a cute and cozy plaza for community members to hang out and enjoy all that downtown Whiting has to offer.
“We're very proud of our downtown district and the historic atmosphere of it. We think this will be a great addition to it,” said Sarah Creel, City of Whiting director of special events.
Plans for the renovation began a few months ago when city officials realized that there weren’t many places in downtown Whiting for people to sit and spend time outdoors.
“On 119th Street, we have a lot of restaurants and places to shop, but there's really nowhere to sit outside and enjoy the downtown area. We wanted to offer a place for families and friends to just sit and socialize and enjoy more of downtown--not just the inside,” said Creel.
The new downtown addition is located right across from Center Lounge and is truly the perfect place to sit down on a sunny day with a snack and some good company. The area has a lot of picnic tables and string lights as well as a couple of canopies to shade people from the sun.
The real highlight of the new space, though, is the gorgeous mural that tells the story of Whiting’s culture. When designing the space, the city wanted to find something to bring everything all together and remind people how special of a place Whiting is. The mural was the perfect choice.
The city’s team initially applied for an arts grant to fund the mural, but when they didn’t receive the grant they were hoping for, their dreams for a mural were almost dashed. Luckily, the local nonprofit Arts Alive! stepped up and generously sponsored the mural.
“I don't know if we would have been able to finish it without Arts Alive!. It was a huge cost that we thought was going to be covered by the grant, so Arts Alive! helping the city complete its vision for the plaza is so meaningful. The whole city and the mayor are very appreciative of Arts Alive! and all it does for the city,” said Creel.
Once the plan for the mural was settled, there was no better person to create such a beautiful piece of artwork than Felix Maldonado, a local muralist native to East Chicago. Maldonado has done several murals for cities throughout Northwest Indiana, and he was honored that Whiting wanted him to create such a meaningful piece.
“Artists are the messengers of culture and life, so to be chosen to do something like this is an honor. I feel that a piece like this strengthens the identity of the city. I think it brings people together, and that it’s a great conversation piece. The city should be very proud of what they have and I’m proud to have been a part of this process,” said Maldonado.
The mural captures many aspects of Whiting’s unique culture--it depicts everything from some of Whiting’s historical buildings and geographic locations, to different businesses, to even several of Whiting’s most popular mascots. The mural is also interactive so that people can engage and have fun with the artwork.
“In the middle of the mural, Felix put our boardwalk, so that when people take a picture with the mural, they can stand right there and it’ll look like they're actually on the pier. It’s fun that it has that interactive piece to it as well,” said Creel.
Even before the mural was officially finished, people were already giving feedback about how much they loved the artwork and the new space.
“I was out there still painting, and as I was painting people would come up and give a lot of good feedback. The area was such a great place to do the mural and just seeing people light up when they saw the work was awesome. It made being a part of this really special,” said Maldonado.
Now that the new plaza is completely finished, Maldonado and the city can’t wait for the community to come out and enjoy everything the addition has to offer.
“I just hope that they enjoy it. I hope that they bring other people to it so they can talk about it and I hope they walk away with a deeper sense of pride in where they’re from,” said Maldonado.
The City of Whiting ultimately could not be happier with how its new 119th Street renovation turned out. The city is grateful to Maldonado for pouring his heart into such a beautiful piece of artwork and endlessly thankful to Arts Alive! for sponsoring the mural. This wonderful new addition is sure to be just one of many fun things the community can enjoy and look forward to.
“Who knows? If this renovation goes well and people love it, then maybe we’ll do another one on another part of 119th Street. I feel like this can be the beginning of some great opportunities,” said Creel.
To learn more about the City of Whiting, visit whitingindiana.com.
