On Thursday, Aug. 2, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bellevue and Federal Way, alongside Wild Waves Theme Park, unveiled a 70-foot mural in the Kiddie Land section of the theme park. The collaboration, which came about as a way to encourage artistic expression among youth, found the participants not only designing, but also painting, the large-scale mural as part of the club-run summer camps last week.

As part of the project, the kids submitted design ideas for the mural. Once the designs were selected, participants worked together to draw, paint and outline the images on the panels.

Approximately 25 children from the Bellevue and Federal Way branches, respectively, designed, outlined and painted 15, 4 by 4, plywood panels to create a 70-foot mural promoting the theme to “BE GREAT.” An off-shoot of the Boys & Girls Clubs mission to build caring, responsible citizens, by creating a positive place, full of hope and opportunity, for every child, additional panels featured other inspiring messages including  “BE ARTISTIC,” and “BE ATHLETIC.”

Panels and paint for the project were donated by Lowe’s in Federal Way, Long Painting, Parker Paint, Sherwin Williams and Glidden Paint.