Northglenn’s history on display

Artist signing prints anniversary mural from at city’s July 4th celebration

Posted 6/26/19

Chad Bolsinger’s latest mural ended up being five times longer than any project he’d done before. “The longest I’d done before was about 120 feet, and even then you’re ready to be …

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Northglenn’s history on display

Artist signing prints anniversary mural from at city’s July 4th celebration

Posted

Chad Bolsinger’s latest mural ended up being five times longer than any project he’d done before.

“The longest I’d done before was about 120 feet, and even then you’re ready to be finished,” Bolsinger said about his work on Northglenn’s 50th anniversary mural on the walls of the tunnel under Interstate 25. The tunnel is 600 feet long.

“That’s a long way to go for a human being, keeping the theme and your creativity going,” Bolsinger said.

Bolsinger will join Michael Stricker, director of the Northglenn Arts and Humanities Foundation, at a booth during the city’s July 4 celebration at E. B. Rains Jr. Park.

He’ll be signing prints from the actual mural.

“We’ll print as many as we can and give them out until we run out,” Stricker said.

The mural should be familiar to many of the attending the July 4 festival since it covers the tunnel connecting the RTD Wagon Road Park-n-Ride with Northglenn’s Community Center Complex.

“It’s kind of a gateway into the city, even though it connects two parts of the city,” Stricker said. “We have so many events now, from the Food Truck Carnival to the Pirates and July 4, and a lot of people park in that lot. So a lot of people are going to be seeing that mural.”

Northglenn officially became a city in April 1969 and local officials have planned a series of event to mark the occasion. The mural was done to honor Northglenn’s 50th anniversary, part of a year’s worth of events and celebrations.

It was funded by the city and Northglenn’s Arts and Humanities Foundation.

“We’ve purchased several sculptures, but this is the first time we’ve done a mural,” Stricker said. “We’re really pleased with how it turned out.”

Northglenn Arts selected Bolsinger in February to design and paint the mural.

Bolsinger, a Denver resident, has painted some well-known murals around the area. They include a silver rhinoceros that was located on the back of some buildings in Denver’s River North — or RiNo — neighborhood and a building-sized image of Albert Einstein along South Broadway.

The arts group hosted a photo and memory gathering session and encouraged residents to stop by with mementos and personal photographs from Northglenn’s history. Staff scanned photos at one station while volunteers talked with residents about their memories of the city, from its early days through the current day.

Bolsinger said that helped.

“That process gave me those images and some ideas,” he said. “It let me put things together in a way that reflects a little of the life out there,” he said.

Stonehocker and Rocket Park

The mural uses several images gathered at that February meeting, Stricker said. That includes the entrance to the old May D and F store in the Northglenn Mall, a view of Webster Lake and even a food truck meant to honor the city’s popular Food Truck Carnival each spring.

Another section depicts the house at Stonehocker Farm, one of the preserved historical sites in the city. That house hosts Northglenn’s annual Christmas holiday celebration.

“All of the places are real,” he said. “We tried to represent the past of the city and how it’s changed.”

Another section shows the rocket playground equipment that was located at Larson Park.

“But everyone called it `Rocket Park’ back then because of that piece,” he said. “All of these images came from the public, and I think there are around 14 different images.”

Those images have been captured in the prints the Bolsinger will be signing, Stricker said.

Chad Bolsinger, mural, muralist, City of Northglenn, 50th anniversary, Wagon Road Park and Ride, E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park

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