Artist paints creek at Artesian Commons

South Sound mural artist Devin Finley painted a creek this week at the Artesian Commons in downtown Olympia.

The project began Thursday and was scheduled to wrap up Friday at the park at 415 Fourth Ave. E. The blue and white “creek” starts on the sidewalk on Fourth Avenue and takes a winding path that eventually connects the park’s two entrances.

“It’s a great addition to the area,” said Stephanie Johnson, program manager for the city’s Parks Department. “It really breaks up all that dark asphalt that was there.”

The project is part of an ongoing effort to revamp the former parking lot surrounding the historic artesian well. The 0.2-acre site re-opened May 3 as the Artesian Commons Park with fresh paint, food trucks and patio seating.

The Olympia City Council recently allocated $25,000 to go toward a basketball hoop and a fence as part of a goal to create more recreational opportunities at the park. Total cost of the project to date is about $253,000, according to the city, with $5,800 budgeted for the creek painting.

The public well has long been a source of drinking water that people carry away in containers. The city once had many artesian wells, and the water was the source for the famous Olympia Beer slogan: It’s the water.

This story was originally published October 10, 2014 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Artist paints creek at Artesian Commons."