PULASKI (NBC 26) — The street outside Pulaski Community Middle School has received an artist's touch with the county's first-ever crosswalk mural.
- Meet a crossing guard at Pulaski Community Middle School
- Hear from the people who made the mural possible
- They hope to bring more crosswalk murals to the village in the future
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story with additional details for the web.)
The street outside Pulaski Community Middle School has received an artist's touch. I'm your Pulaski neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos showing you why the first-ever crosswalk mural in Brown County is more than meets the eye.
The crosswalk mural in front of Pulaski Community Middle School features the Pulaski school colors and a geometric pattern. Painted Sept. 21 by Milwaukee-based John Kowalczyk and a team of artists including Sara Bott, Melissa Bhortz, and Bobby Mills, the idea was spearheaded by Stacey Von Busch of the Pulaski Area Chamber of Commerce.
"Pulaski is just so rich with pride that there really wasn't another option for us when it came to producing this mural," Von Busch said. "We knew that we needed, you know, the community colors, the school colors, the Polish colors. We knew that would be well received and it certainly was."
She said the $3,000 project was funded by grant money and donations from community groups with the idea to increase pedestrian safety by making the crosswalk more visible and beautifying the community.
"I have noticed it seems like people are seeing the [mural] a lot easier, it's a lot more visible than what it was before with just the simple double-lined crosswalk," Pulaski School Resource Officer Josh Nickodem said.
Richard Becher has spent the past 18 years as a crossing guard for Pulaski. He said the kids had positive reactions to the mural.
"The Monday after it was done, they come back and all of the sudden they kind of looked down and [said] 'Hey, you know, it looks pretty cool,'" Becher said. "So that's good for them. Something to be proud of."
It's something the sponsors of the mural are proud of as well.
"Before school and after school this is just one hectic place," Mark Heck of the Pulaski United Foundation said. "So, to have something like this, a visual aid that helps people ... I just think it's absolutely wonderful."
"I can only hope that this would be kind of a trend for surrounding communities to follow as well," Jolleen Olson of Fox Communities Credit Union said.
Stacey Von Busch from the Chamber of Commerce says she hopes to bring more of these to Saint Augustine Street in the future. In Pulaski, Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
