Fundraiser to Restore Irish Mural Set for Thursday

This story was written by Patch Editor Karen Sorensen

A fundraiser to restore the United We Stand: Irish Heritage mural, located on the wall across from the downtown Joliet Public Library, will be held Thursday at the Chicago Street Pub.

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Tickets are $25, with proceeds earmarked for the full restoration and maintenance of the hand-painted work done in 1998 by Friends of Community Public Art. 

The project is expected to cost between $1,600 and $2,000, Friends Administrator Debra Kuypers said.

It's the first step in what will be a massive undertaking to fix, rebuild, repaint and generally maintain the 150-plus murals placed all over downtown and the city of Joliet. The works began falling into the disrepair when the city was forced to end its annual $10,000 stipend to the group for mural maintenance in 2008, Kuypers said.

The Thursday fundraiser will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at Chicago Street Pub, 75 N. Chicago St. The ticket price covers free soft drinks, draft beer, well wines and liquors, and some domestic bottled beers. It also gives the ticket holder a free yearlong membership to the Friends organization. 

Kuypers said another fundraiser is being organized by several groups for this September to bring in donations to restore the Mexican community murals on Collins Street. More details will be forthcoming closer to the event.

However, there are far more murals than organizations able or inclined to hold events, Kuypers said.

For that reason, the Friends group is putting together a campaign to be posted on the fundraising Web site kickstarter.com that they hope will bring in the bulk of the money needed. A video for that effort will be shot this summer, she said.

Kuypers said she's been heartened by the support the effort has received so far.

"It's been amazing," she said. "People are really starting to get involved."