Unveiled in July of 2025, the mural emblazons the wall of the Pekin Park Shelter House at Pekin Community Park, the town’s only park and a central gathering space for community events like the annual Oldest Consecutive 4th of July Parade and Festival in the Nation. The mural was painted by Kayla Troutman, an artist and New Pekin native.

The design incorporates elements of New Pekin’s history and identity, including the Monon Train that once passed through town. As an homage to the annual Fourth of July celebration, it features firework bursts made from the fingerprints of community members. Vibrant strawberries represent the park’s past as a flourishing berry grove.

Whitaker said the community’s response to the mural has been overwhelmingly positive, and locals are eager to embark on another public project.

“I think my favorite part was being able to show that Pekin cares, and reaching out to these outside resources so that we can connect and merge together and show that there are things that we can do. We view IU Bloomington as this big school that does all this grand stuff, and we're capable of working alongside them and having those relationships.”

For Spencer Pride, collaborating with IU students remains a valuable part of their process.

“We knew the value of collaborating with the students, and we wanted to kind of continue that, especially being a small nonprofit, with not having a large budget and having an amazing resource right up the road,” said Elisabeth Solchik, Spencer Pride’s vice president, programming director, and fundraising director.

Vasconi said the final murals also demonstrate how community input continues shaping projects after the Rural Placemaking Studio partnership ends.

“The final murals in both New Pekin and Spencer ended up being different from the original design suggested by students, and I think that’s a really good thing,” Vasconi said. “Part of our mission is to be a catalyst. We want to find those sparks of inspiration that help communities find their unique voices. Both communities had very productive community planning sessions with us, and that helped keep the gears turning in the community even after we submitted the final designs.”

Part of our mission is to be a catalyst. We want to find those sparks of inspiration that help communities find their unique voices.

Nicole Vasconi, IU Center for Rural Engagement Quality of Place Liaison

Turning Classwork into Community Vision

Among the Rural Placemaking Studio student cohort was Josie Kreitenstein, a senior majoring in comprehensive design. The experience served as her first professional internship and her first experience designing murals.

“I'm from Indiana. I've lived here my whole life, so it was cool to do outreach to other nearby communities,” she said. “And it sounded like just an overall great opportunity to learn a lot.”

Kreitenstein designed artwork for both the New Pekin and Spencer murals, taking the lead on the fine arts components. Seeing her work transform into a full-scale piece in New Pekin was a milestone moment as an artist, a student, and a professional.

“It was really cool to see even a version of what I did make it onto a physical space,” she said.

She added that visiting the communities and meeting residents added a deeper layer of meaning to her artistic process.

“It was great to see how excited the community was about getting something like this up. And it really impassioned me to try and do my best for it,” Kreitenstein said.

The IU Center for Rural Engagement improves the lives of Hoosiers through collaborative initiatives that discover and deploy scalable and flexible solutions to common challenges facing rural communities. Working in full-spectrum community innovation through research, community-engaged teaching and student service, the center builds vision, harnesses assets and cultivates sustainable leadership structures within the communities with which it engages to ensure long-term success.