A collaboration between the City of DeKalb and Northern Illinois University will welcome those traveling on Annie Glidden Road to Huskie Nation.
Painting begins Monday, July 10, on a Huskie-themed mural in the Annie Glidden Road railroad underpass, just south of Lincoln Highway. The location at the entrance to the west side of the City and the NIU campus will welcome residents, students and NIU Athletics fans by showing the City’s pride in the university.
The walls of the underpass, which are each around 500 feet long, and the center column will be painted Huskie red. A nine-foot-tall Huskie image will be installed on the column, and the phrase “Huskie Nation” will be painted on the walls.
“The mural will be a clear sign to new and prospective NIU students and visitors to our community that the City of DeKalb is a college town,” said DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes. “It’s another example of the strong partnership between the City and NIU to make our community a great place to live, work, visit and study.”
The City and University collaborated on the mural’s design and will be partnering on the labor. The NIU Paint Shop will be painting the underpass walls and column while DeKalb Public Works employees will paint the lettering. The project’s expenses are being funded through a portion of a T-Mobile Hometown Grant secured by the City’s Citizens’ Community Enhancement Commission for the creation of public art.
The project is part of a big year for public art in DeKalb. As work begins on the Huskie Pride mural, community members continue to volunteer in the DeKalb Public Library to create the mosaic pieces for a two-story mural on the south exterior wall of City Hall. This Spring, artwork created by community members was installed on three downtown utility boxes, and three more pieces of utility box artwork are in the works.
Photo: The Annie Glidden Road underpass will be the site for a new Huskie Pride mural. Painting is scheduled to begin July 10.