Lacombe is getting ready to add our contribution to the Canada 150 Mural Mosaic project, and they are giving residents a chance to add their own personal touch to the project.

The City of Lacombe along with the Lacombe Public Art Collection Committee are pleased to provide residents will this opportunity to contribute, after a social media survey conducted earlier this year asked citizens what parts of Lacombe they wanted to see highlighted on the mural.

Executive Assistant for Community Services Maureen MacKenzie says the mural will reflect our history, as well as what currently makes our community special.

“We’ll have a mural that comprises some of the iconic imagery from Lacombe, such as the trees, the Flatiron building, people of the community, and of course the Lacombe Pig which was developed and bred here in Lacombe, and is currently on the endangered farm species list, so we felt it was a great way to kind of honour our Lacombe Pig so that it remains permanently in everybody’s minds.”

The Lacombe Pig was developed at the federal research centre, and was the first strain of livestock created in Canada in the late 40's and 50's. It was highly sought after for its calm, friendly demeanour and how well it put on weight.

Currently there are only eight purebred Lacombe Pigs left in Canada.

You can volunteer to paint one of the approximately 480 tiles during the Culture and Harvest Festival on September 28th and 29th, but you must first register.

MacKenzie says the Mural 150 team will be there to help coordinate and finish the mural, but anyone who signs up can add their own special flavour.

There are approximately 480 tiles that need to be painted on a first come, first serve basis.

“People will be painting kind of their own idea on each individual tile, so that’s the cool thing… the image itself will be about 600 tiles, the remaining 120 tiles are done by the team and those are kind of the specialized tiles that have special details to them to make the images really pop.”

The finished mural will be hung in the provincial building, as well as being added to a tabletop book featuring all the murals created by different communities across the county. Copies of the book will be available for order at the event in September.

You can click here to sign up, or you can call or email Maureen MacKenzie for assistance: 403-782-1258, or mmackenzie@lacombe.ca.