IRONWOOD, Mich. (AP) – “They think it’s going to be one of their best murals,” Jerry Taplin said last week of the artists painting the miners’ mural soon to be displayed on his building in downtown Ironwood.

Taplin, of Bentonville, Ark., said the artists, Kelly Meredith and Sue Martinsen, are making good progress on the mural, which will be affixed to his building. He estimated it would display more than 100 historical miners, making it unique among the murals on which the artists have worked.

With the unveiling slated for June 16, Taplin said Mary Waits and her Northwoods Cabin would offer booklets with biographical information for each miner. The city is also planning various downtown events to promote the mural, which it hopes will draw tourists downtown.

The project was “slow going at first,” Taplin said. He was interested in the mural, and working with Meredith and Martinsen, four years ago, and he brought in Waits around three years ago. What has followed has been a lot of legwork, with Waits often visiting Ironwood officials and others to sell “bricks” (or display space under the miners) to community members to finance the mural.

The project has also gotten a lot of support from other community members, Taplin said, including local historian and promoter Larry Peterson, and Ron Hoeft, of Hoeft Construction, in Hurley.

Taplin said Hoeft workers have donated their labor to setting up the framing on which the mural (painted on panels) will be affixed.

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