TIMES-SHAMROCK ARCHIVES
Vendors line the Tamaqua Train Station during Tamaqua’s Annual Summerfest in 2015.

Folks are invited to “choose happiness” by bringing color to a public mural in Tamaqua.

The finished product will be placed at the Verizon building on South Railroad Street.

The first time to help paint will be Sunday, June 16, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Tamaqua’s Summerfest. The pre-sketched fabric panels will be at Depot Square Park.

Additional painting days will be held throughout the months of June and July.

The project is collaboration among Tamaqua Area High School graphic arts students, Tamaqua Community Arts Center, Walk-in Arts Center, local community organizations and the Schuylkill County Intermediate Unit’s Art in Education Program.

The 10-foot-by-25-foot mural was created by students and instructor Lori Remmel.

Content for the mural was determined by Tamaqua Area Community Partnership’s 25th anniversary theme, “Choose Happiness.” Remmel asked students to think about what made them and others happy.

Students tucked in hundreds of “happy” objects such as trinkets, music and food. Those objects can be seen at close range, but from a distance the mural features the area’s rolling hills, farms, big sky and coal heritage.

The project is on Facebook at WIAC-Art-4U or Tamaqua ChooseHappiness.

For more information, email Lorraine Felker at lorraine.felker@gmail.com.

For details on painting days or how to help defray costs, contact the arts center at 570-668-1192 or marketing@tamaquaarts.org.