Discover Secrets in Issaquah's Larry Kangas Murals - July 19

At the July 7th City Council Meeting, Mayor Fred Butler declared July 19th as Larry Kangas Day in the City of Issaquah. Kangas, a mural artist from Beaverton, Oregon, painted over 1,000 murals in the Pacific Northwest. Issaquah is home to six of the murals – the Darigold Mural (located on Front Street), Mill Street Logging (on Sunset), two at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, and two in the Issaquah Café. Kangas passed away in November, 2013.

On Saturday, July 19th, the public is invited to discover the stories hidden in these murals. From 10AM to 2PM, guides will be stationed at the Darigold, Mill Street, and Issaquah Hatchery Murals to share the stories these murals represent. The public is also invited to dine-in at the Issaquah Café and enjoy the Kangas murals while having a delicious meal.

Kangas received an art degree at the University of Massachusetts. He was a Veteran, serving twenty years in the Air Force. He began painting large scale murals in the 1980’s. Kangas came to Issaquah four times over a twenty year span, from his home base in Beaverton, Oregon. Bev Ecker, who worked with Kangas on the Beaverton Arts Commission, said, “He is the most prolific and creative mural artist I have met. He has a way of making a scene come alive with vibrant colors, brilliant design work and amazing realism.”

Issaquah’s largest mural, by far, is the Darigold mural at 611 Front Street N, painted in 1995. It dominates that area of town and is actually painted on three sides of the building. It depicts the history of dairy farming in the Issaquah area and is one of the first things people notice coming into town from the north.

It wasn’t easy bringing the idea of murals to the city, according to former Issaquah Chamber of Commerce President Suzanne Suther. Suther had to work with city administration to establish a mural policy and then craft an inventory of all eligible Issaquah walls. She had to learn about preservation, raise money for an artist and decide what part of the community’s vast history deserved artistic depiction. “He [Kangas] brought a great wealth of sensitivity to the community, as though he were living here,” she said. “He was very interested in having the outcome be the pride of the city.”

Dave Waggoner, an active community volunteer and friend of Kangas, said, “The murals speak to me, especially that Darigold mural, because I was a little boy growing up on a farm and I saw that Darigold truck come out every day,” he said. “When I look at that, it reminds me of the old Issaquah that I loved then and still love today.”

Kangas returned to the city in 1996 when he was commissioned to transform the water tower at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery into a scenic depiction of the Issaquah Creek that flows through it. It literally brings to life the salmon habitat, featuring the creek, its wildlife and the lifecycle of a salmon. Norb Zeigler, a volunteer at the hatchery said, “It’s really become a teaching tool for the community.”. “It picks up on our message that we need to keep the salmon coming home.”

In 1997, Kangas added a touch of history to a wall on East Sunset Way, across the street from what is now Issaquah City Hall. That piece honors Issaquah’s logging past. “I can almost hold up a picture of my dad when he was really young, doing that logging, and it matches perfectly to the mural,” Waggoner said.

In 1999, Kangas adorned the inside walls of Issaquah Cafe with murals depicting Issaquah’s country-living past. More than 10 years later, he came back in 2013 to paint the backdrop of the hatchery’s new aquarium. The underwater scene of Issaquah Creek was one of Kangas’ last works before he died.