Mural with pizzazz completed at fair building

Artwork on all four sides of the Jacklin building at the fairgrounds is completed for this year's North Idaho Fair and Rodeo.

The mural, which spans the entire 540 feet around the building, depicts horticulture in a colorful, eye-catching way.

In 1998, Northern Beverage donated an old warehouse on Seltice Way to the fair. With the cooperation of Kootenai County and fairgrounds employees, the building was dismantled and reconstructed in time for the 1998 fair.

"There were a lot of people who helped get that building up," said Barbara Renner, 1998 fair manager.

Renner was approached by the Jacklin family who wanted to make a donation to decorate the building with murals.

"The Jacklins said the building needs some pizzazz," Renner said.

The three Jacklin brothers submitted a sketch of proposed murals, including a cornucopia with fruits and vegetables for the northwest corner of the building, and a produce truck dumping vegetables, with fields for the south side.

"When they got the building up, we thought it looked bare and stark," said Doyle Jacklin, general partner, Riverbend Commerce Park. "We wanted artwork that typifies the area and the agriculture in the area."

Jacklin gave Spokane artist Joe Felice a list including everything he wanted pictured on the corrugated metal building. Painting on two of the four sides was completed by the 1999 fair. Felice completed the two remaining sides by October. The project took Felice more than three months to finish. He used 10 colors to make the nearly 30 shades used on the building.

"The Jacklin brothers wanted a showcase of horticulture," Felice said. "It was quite a challenge to do this project. My wife and I spent a lot of time looking at it saying, `What have we gotten into?'"

Not only are the 16-foot vegetables that reach to the top of the building a must-see; the east side of the building is a lighthearted illustration of pigs taking a bath. Felice incorporated the idea of horticulture on all the doors by painting them like grain silos.

"We oohed and aahed along the way as we finished a vegetable," he said.

Felice's first major project was the Jacklin building off Interstate 90 near Post Falls in the 1970s. He paints everything from buildings to gymnasiums to trucks. The biggest challenge of the Jacklin building at the fairgrounds was the corrugated metal surface.

"Corrugated buildings take a lot longer to paint, and there is no drawing a straight line," he said. "But it is so satisfying when you get it done. I'd start another one tomorrow."

Felice, who is entirely self-taught, said, "I am just a Spokane guy who started painting signs my senior year in high school. I hope I can keep doing this until I'm feeble and old. I don't ever want to retire."

The building is primarily used for livestock during the fair, but the rest of the year it is used for auctions, auto swaps and winter boat storage.

Long-range plans for the Jacklin building include adding a fire suppression system, concrete floor and insulated walls.

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